There are now four U.S. states that are seeking a combined US$ 1.4 trillion in penalties from Meta in an upcoming trial over charges the company has misled the public about the safety of its Facebook and Instagram platforms.
California, Colorado, Kentucky and New Jersey allege the social media giant designed its algorithms to be addictive for young users, and in a new filing, Meta says the states are seeking penalties out of proportion with the alleged offenses. As first reported by Reuters, the penalty total sought by the states is close to Meta's market cap of US$ 1.5 trillion.
"A sanction of that size has no analog in the history of consumer protection enforcement," the company argues in its 6 July filing with the U.S. District Court of Northern California.
The filing is in response to a June hearing where the states described how they were calculating the potential penalties in the case, multiplying the number of violations by the fine amount set by each state's law. The states said the total number of violations is based on an estimate of how many teens and young users may have been affected by Meta's practices.
Meta claims in its recent filing that the states' calculations "sweep in, and double count, every single teen who uses Meta's platforms, and every single month in which a teen uses Meta's platforms for more than a half-hour." Meta argues that the monetary claims sought by the states "are not linked to wrongful conduct or supported by the record."
In a 30 June statement, Davenport praised the district court's decision to deny Meta's attempt for a summary judgment, which allows the case to continue to trial.
"We are thrilled that a federal district court has ruled that our case against Meta will proceed to trial," Davenport said. "For years, Meta has failed to protect kids on Facebook and Instagram, endangering their mental health while profiting at their expense. Our office is proud to co-lead this case against Meta on behalf of a bipartisan coalition of state AGs, and we look forward to proving our case against Meta in court."
The office of California Attorney General Rob Bonta said in an email that the lawsuit "alleges Meta has prioritized profits over the safety of kids and fueled the mental health crisis we see impacting a generation of American children. The California Department of Justice looks forward to holding Meta fully accountable at trial in August."
A total of 29 states have filed suit against Meta in federal court, with the majority of the cases focused on allegations that the social media giant violated the federal Children's Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA) by gathering data on underage users without their parents' consent. The trial, set for August in Oakland, Calif., will focus on the alleged COPPA violations, as well as the states' claims that Meta violated state consumer protection laws when it misled users about its platforms' safety.
Meta has denied the allegations.
In the past, Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act has largely shielded internet companies from being held liable for its users' content and for making "good faith" efforts to moderate content. But the most recent legal actions against social media platforms have focused on how the platforms were designed.
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