Meta will have to defend in court the accusation that it built Facebook and Instagram to addict children, after a federal judge on Monday refused to dismiss the heart of a lawsuit brought by attorneys general from 29 states.
US District Judge Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers, sitting in Oakland, California, let the states press claims that Meta deceived the public, used unfair practices, and broke a federal child-privacy law. She found genuine factual disputes that a jury, not a motion, should settle.
In a 38-page ruling, Gonzalez Rogers said there were material disputes over whether Meta’s apps are addictive, whether the company falsely denied designing them that way, and whether it aimed them, at least partly, at kids.
The states have not proved any of that yet. What they have won is the right to try to.
The judge went further on one point, and it stings. She granted the states partial summary judgment on their claim under the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act, ruling that Meta did not meet the law’s notice and parental-consent requirements.
