It’s a big week for meta in court: A landmark social media trial also begins today in California, the first legal trial of social media addiction in the country. That case is part of the “JCCP,” or Judicial Council Coordinated Proceedings, which brings together several civil lawsuits focusing on similar issues.
Plaintiffs in that case allege that social media companies negligently designed their products and caused various harms to minors who used their apps. Snap, TikTok, and Google were named as defendants along with Meta; Snap and TikTok are already settled. The fact that Meta does not mean that some of the company’s top executives may be called as witnesses in the coming weeks.
Meta executives, including Mark Zuckerberg, are unlikely to testify live in the New Mexico trial. But the proceedings may still be notable for a few reasons. This is the first stand-alone, state-led case against Meta that has actually gone to trial in the US. This is a highly charged case alleging child sexual abuse that will ultimately hinge on very technical arguments, including what it means to “mislead” the public, how algorithmic amplification works on social media, and what protections Meta and other social media platforms get through Section 230.
And, while Meta’s top executives may not be required to appear in person, executive depositions and testimony from other witnesses could still provide an interesting look at the inner workings of the company as it has established policies for underage users and responded to complaints that claim it is not doing enough to protect them.
Meta has so far given no indication that it plans to settle. The company has denied the allegations, and Meta spokesperson Aaron Simpson previously told WIRED, “While New Mexico makes sensational, irrelevant, and distracting arguments, we are focused on demonstrating our long-term commitment to supporting young people… We’re proud of the progress we’ve made, and we’re always working to do better.”
Sacha Howarth, executive director of the Tech Oversight Project, a tech industry watchdog, said in an email statement that the two trials “represent the split screen of Mark Zuckerberg’s nightmare: a landmark trial in Los Angeles on addicting children to Facebook and Instagram, and a trial in New Mexico exposing how meta enabled predators to use social media to exploit and abuse children.”
“These are the trials of a generation,” Howarth said. “Just as the world saw Big Tobacco and Big Pharma held accountable in the courts, we will see for the first time a Big Tech CEO like Zuckerberg take a stand.”
cost of doing business
New Mexico Attorney General Raul Torrez filed his complaint against Meta in December 2023. In it they alleged that Meta actively provided explicit content to underage users, enabled adults to exploit children on the platform, allowed Facebook and Instagram users to easily find child pornography, and allowed an investigator in the case, who was claiming to be a mother, to introduce her underage daughter to sex traffickers.
The trial is expected to last seven weeks. Jurors were selected last week, a panel of 10 women and eight men (12 jurors and six alternates). New Mexico First Judicial District Judge Brian Biedscheid is presiding over the case.
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