A jury in Nashville heard this week that Meta once concluded, in its own internal language, that the features keeping teenagers glued to Instagram were “inherently at odds with well-being”, and that the company then chose to say nothing about it.
The line comes from a 2017 document that the state of Tennessee has placed at the centre of its case, and it set the tone for opening statements in a trial that could run for seven weeks.
The case, brought by Tennessee Attorney General Jonathan Skrmetti in the Chancery Court in Nashville before Chancellor Russell Perkins, argues that Meta violated the Tennessee Consumer Protection Act by hiding what it knew and by shipping features designed to hook young users.
It is the latest venue for a fight over Instagram’s addictive design that regulators have been building towards for years, and one of the first to put those questions in front of a jury rather than settle them on paper.
The 💜 of EU techThe latest rumblings from the EU tech scene, a story from our wise ol' founder Boris, and some questionable AI art. It's free, every week, in your inbox. Sign up now!The state points to autoplay, Reels, push notifications, and posts engineered to disappear as the mechanics that, together, encourage compulsive use.
