Meta Platforms faces trial in Tennessee starting Monday over the state's claims that Instagram's design is to blame for a youth mental-health crisis, marking the second state-led lawsuit against the social media giant to reach a jury.
Jury selection began in Nashville for what is expected to be a seven-week trial. Tennessee Attorney General Jonathan Skrmetti accuses Meta of violating the state's consumer protection law by knowingly designing a product that drives teens to compulsive use and misleading the public about its safety.
The lawsuit alleges that Meta failed to disclose extensive internal research showing Instagram could harm teens and continued offering features it knew were dangerous without warning users. The state claims that founder and CEO Mark Zuckerberg was repeatedly warned by Meta employees about research finding a negative impact on teens but declined to fund efforts to minimize those harms.
At the heart of the case are specific Instagram features that Tennessee argues are intentionally addictive: autoplay videos, the Reels short-video format, push notifications, and designs that cause content to disappear after a certain period. The state is seeking financial penalties — up to $1,000 per violation under Tennessee's consumer protection law — and a court order requiring Meta to modify these aspects of the platform.
Meta has pushed back, arguing that the state's claims of harm are based on content posted by Instagram users and that Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act shields the company from liability. A Meta spokesperson said the company has spent a decade building "safe, age-appropriate defaults for teens alongside simple tools for parents."
This trial is the second state case against Meta to reach court. Earlier this year, a New Mexico jury awarded that state $375 million in damages after finding Meta had misled consumers about the safety of its platforms. The Tennessee trial is also scheduled to overlap with at least two other Meta trials in California courts, including a multistate case set to begin August 18 and a Florida teenager's individual lawsuit starting July 27.
The outcome could have significant implications for how social media platforms design their products for younger users, as nearly every US state has filed claims against Meta over its platforms' alleged impact on children.
