Meta (META.US) urgently halts trial failure! Teenage social media addiction case opens this week with potential claims as high as $1.4 trillion

The Zhitong Finance App learned that Meta Platforms (META.US) tried to urgently stop a landmark trial involving social media addiction charges among teenagers, but it was rejected by the US Federal Court of Appeals. This means that lawsuits initiated by dozens of state attorneys general will be heard as scheduled this week, and Meta will face huge claims that could reach up to $1.4 trillion.

A three-judge panel of the U.S. Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals ruled on Monday that the court currently has no jurisdiction to review Meta's early appeal and therefore dismissed the case.

According to the current schedule, the jury selection for the case will begin on Wednesday in the Oakland federal court in California. The hearing is scheduled to be held on August 18. The entire trial is expected to last several weeks.

Meta has yet to comment on the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals's latest ruling.

Meta's early appeal was rejected, and a potential $1.4 trillion claim became the focus

The lawsuit was jointly initiated by dozens of US state attorneys general, accusing social media platforms such as Instagram and Facebook under Meta to attract and retain underage users through addictive product designs, thereby harming the mental health of young people.

As the appellate court declined to step in, Meta now has to respond directly in the Auckland Federal Court.

What has received particular attention from the market is that state attorneys general may seek penalties of up to about 1.4 trillion US dollars in the case. If the relevant claims are finally upheld by the courts, the scale will far exceed most of the regulatory and legal penalties Meta has faced before, so this trial may become one of the most watched legal cases in the US social media industry.

However, the $1.4 trillion currently falls under a possible penalty request from the state attorney general's side, which does not mean that Meta has already been sentenced to bear this amount. The final liability and scale of compensation still depend on the outcome of the trial.

Meta cites “Section 230” defense that it failed to prevent the case from going to trial

In this multi-state lawsuit, Meta previously requested US District Judge Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers to dismiss the case, but the relevant motion was denied. Afterwards, Meta filed an early appeal with the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals.

One of Meta's core defenses is section 230 of the US Communications Regulations Act. This provision has long provided extensive protection for Internet platforms against some of the legal liabilities arising from content posted by users.

Meta argues that Section 230 should also prevent lawsuits relating to social media “addiction.”

However, Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals Judge Jacqueline Nguyen pointed out in Monday's ruling that interlocutory rulings in lower courts usually cannot be reviewed on appeal in advance until the case has reached a final judgment.

At the same time, the court rejected Meta's claim that the case met a few exceptions and was therefore subject to early review.

Meta also previously requested the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals to issue an emergency order suspending the trial that is about to begin this week. However, the court held that since it did not have jurisdiction to accept Meta's early appeal, the question of requesting the suspension of the trial had no practical significance as a result.

Meta is facing a wave of youth mental health lawsuits across the US

Oakland's multi-state lawsuit is just one in a series of teen social media addiction cases Meta is currently facing.

Currently, several US state attorneys general, consumer lawyers, and school districts have initiated legal action against Meta over the potential impact of platforms such as Instagram and Facebook on the mental health of young people. Related personal injury cases and school district lawsuits continue to increase in California state courts and federal courts.

Among them, in a separate case brought by the New Mexico Attorney General, the total amount of penalties Meta has to bear is close to US$950 million.

In March of this year, the jury handed down a ruling of 375 million US dollars; the judge then added about 567 million US dollars last week to require Meta to make relevant payments to New Mexico to set up a mental health fund. The two parts total about 942 million US dollars.

Meanwhile, Meta is currently undergoing another trial in a Tennessee court. The Tennessee Attorney General also filed a lawsuit against Meta over adolescent social media addiction under consumer protection-related laws.

Individual and school district lawsuits continue to increase, and the first batch of school district cases will be heard next year

In addition to cases initiated by state governments, personal injury lawsuits against major social media platforms continue to expand.

Earlier this year, a Los Angeles state court jury awarded a woman $6 million in a related case. The plaintiff in this case claimed that Meta's social networking platform and Google's YouTube caused it to develop mental health problems such as anxiety and depression.

Meanwhile, lawsuits filed by US school districts against social media companies are also progressing, and the first batch of school district cases is expected to begin trial in February 2027.

This means that even if Meta can successfully limit its liability in this multi-state lawsuit, the company's legal risks surrounding young people's social media use and mental health issues will not end there.

The trial that is about to begin in Auckland this week is therefore significant. In addition to the penalty request, which could reach up to $1.4 trillion, the case may further test whether internet platforms can use section 230 of the Communications Regulations Act to resist lawsuits against product design and addiction mechanisms, and may have a broader impact on the future boundaries of legal liability faced by the US social media industry.