California Leads A Group of States in Lawsuit Claiming Social Media Companies Have Cultivated Addition Through Their Platforms

On October 24, 2023, California joined 32 other states in filing a lawsuit in the United States District Court, Northern District of California against the companies that own Facebook and Instagram platforms alleging that the companies designed their social media platforms to be addictive to children and teens. (State of Arizona, et al. v. Meta Platforms, Inc., et al., Case no. 4:23-cv-05448.)

The government plaintiffs allege that the social media defendants’ practices constitute violations of multiple federal and state laws, including the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act, California’s False Advertising Law, and California’s Unfair Competition Law. The lawsuit is the end-result of a nationwide investigation into the social media platforms that was initiated back on November 18, 2021.

According to California’s Attorney General, Rob Bonta, the social media defendants knew their products were addictive and exploited “vulnerabilities in young developing brains” through their design schemes. Part of the strategy appears to equate the marketing practices of the social media companies to those of JUUL, a company that manufactured flavored vaping products that was allegedly targeted towards children.

The lawsuit seeks a permanent injunction to preclude such alleged manipulative design and marketing techniques as well as an unspecified amount of monetary damages. However, it is believed that Meta could face civil penalties alone between $1,000 to $50,000 for each violation of the various state laws, if proven.