SerpApi.Org
The trial between the Tennessee Attorney General's Office and Meta over Instagram began this week, with the state alleging that the app harms young users, a claim similar to those raised by 41 other states in lawsuits against the tech giant.
The Tennessee Attorney General’s Office sued Mark Zuckerberg's Meta in 2023. The office claimed that Instagram is “unfairly and deceptively addictive and harmful, particularly to young people,” Chancellor Russell Perkins summarized in a 2024 ruling, according to previous Tennessean reporting.
The office argued that this put Meta in violation of the Tennessee Consumer Protection Act, which bars unfair and deceptive business practices. Tennessee is targeting Instagram's design, arguing that Meta implements features that keep teens on the app.
Start the day smarter. Get all the news you need in your inbox each morning.
Meta's defense is that it has preventive measures protecting teens from spending too much time on Instagram, citing “Teen Accounts," which have built-in safety settings and a reminder to close the app after spending 60 minutes on it in a day.
The jury selection began on July 20, and lawyers predict the trial will run six to seven weeks. Former Meta employees, academics and researchers will be among the dozens of witnesses featured in the trial.
Tennessee is just one of the 42 states that have brought legal action against the more than $1 trillion-dollar company for unethical and harmful business practices.
What other states have sued Meta?
In addition to Tennessee, state attorneys general in Florida, Massachusetts, Mississippi, Arkansas, New Hampshire, Oklahoma, Utah, Vermont and the District of Columbia have filed similar state-level lawsuits.
Alongside the nine state lawsuits is the multistate federal case filed in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California in San Francisco, where Meta is headquartered.
The states involved in the federal complaint against Meta over Instagram are:
- Arizona
- California
- Connecticut
- Delaware
- Georgia
- Hawaii
- Idaho
- Illinois
- Indiana
- Kansas
- Kentucky
- Louisiana
- Maine
- Maryland
- Michigan
- Minnesota
- Missouri
- Nebraska
- New Jersey
- North Carolina
- North Dakota
- Ohio
- Oregon
- Pennsylvania
- Rhode Island
- South Carolina
- South Dakota
- Virginia
- Washington
- West Virginia
- Wisconsin
What are the states' claims against Meta?
The broader claims made against Meta nationwide concern the alleged addictive product design, the harm to youth mental health, deception and misrepresentation, as well as children's privacy violations.
The federal lawsuit alleges that Meta designed Instagram with "manipulative and harmful features" to keep young users using the app, according to original 2023 lawsuit obtained by USA TODAY. Additionally, the lawsuit cited the unethical collection of personal data from young users.
The accusation against Meta brought on by the states are parallel to the federal suit: that Meta manipulatively designed Instagram with the intent to drive engagement among young users despite the link to mental health harms.
Have any of the cases against Meta been resolved?
None of the major state attorney general lawsuits have reached a final resolution, and the federal multistate remains pending. However, New Mexico state recently resolved its case in court, as did a woman in Los Angeles who claimed her mental health worsened due to the app's addictive design.
New Mexico's lawsuit differed from the allegations other states have made, as New Mexico alleged that Meta's platforms, including Instagram, mislead users about the platforms' safety and enabled sexual child exploitation. Meta was ordered to pay $375 million in civil penalties after a jury reached a guilty verdict on March 24.
The Los Angeles case was a major landmark in the ongoing legal saga, because it was the first major social media addiction lawsuit to reach a jury verdict. Attorneys argued that Meta and Google's addictive platform designed contributed to plaintiff's mental health struggles.
The jury reached a verdict on March 25, the day after as New Mexico's ruling, and ordered both companies to pay $3 million in compensatory damages and $3 million in punitive damages, with Meta responsible for 70% of the total and Google for 30%, according to Reuters.
Evan Mealins of The Tennessean contributed to this report.
Peter Burditt covers trending news and service journalism for The Tennessean. Contact him at [email protected]
This article originally appeared on Nashville Tennessean: Tennessee AG takes Meta to trial over Instagram. 41 other states are doing the same
