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Meta faces states including California in an Oakland federal court over allegations that its Facebook and Instagram apps are designed to keep minors hooked.
Jury selection began Wednesday morning, according to the court calendar. The trial is scheduled to start Monday morning.
Attorneys general from 29 states, including California, allege social media companies illegally collected and used children’s data and designed their platforms to keep young users engaged while misleading the public about their safety.
Meta is set to go to trial first, while other companies, including Google and TikTok’s parent company ByteDance, face similar allegations.
The broader lawsuits also name Snapchat, YouTube and Alphabet.
Advocates say features including infinite scrolling, autoplay, algorithmic recommendations, push notifications and engagement metrics such as “likes” can lead to harmful outcomes for young users, including depression, anxiety, eating disorders, self-harm, suicidal ideation and other mental health issues.
The Meta case could serve as a bellwether, potentially shaping how lower courts view future lawsuits involving social media companies.
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