Take 'EM down

Meta faces 1.4 trillion (in Dutch 1 biljoen... Funny how that works...) lawsuit. Yeeeaaaah, go EU, go EU!

And it gets even better. That number is not a typo: four US states - California, Colorado, Kentucky and New Jersey - are seeking up to $1.4 trillion in penalties against Meta over Facebook and Instagram being designed to addict kids. That is almost the company's ENTIRE market value (roughly $1.5 trillion). One lawsuit demanding basically everything Meta is worth. Take 'em down.

How they get to a trillion: the states count every affected teen as a separate violation and multiply by the maximum fine per violation under each state's consumer protection law. Tens of millions of minors × thousands of dollars per violation = trillions. Meta calls the calculation "outlandish" and claims no sanction of that size has any analog in the history of consumer protection enforcement. Boohoo.

It's happening right now: jury selection started August 12 in Oakland, California; opening statements begin August 18 before Judge Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers. And just this week a 9th Circuit appeals panel (3-0) rejected Meta's Section 230 immunity claim, clearing the way for trial. Meta and TikTok tried to kill thousands of these lawsuits in one fell swoop. Nope.

The Big Tobacco moment: experts are comparing this to the 1998 tobacco Master Settlement, which ultimately cost the industry $206 billion. Meta is the last major platform standing - Snap, YouTube and TikTok all settled before jury decisions.

The evidence trail is brutal: whistleblowers Frances Haugen, Arturo Bejar and Cayce Savage testified that Meta's own researchers flagged harm to minors for years and were repeatedly overruled. One internal researcher literally wrote that Instagram was "a drug" and employees were "basically pushers." Zuckerberg listed "teen time spent" as the company's top goal in 2017 - the same year internal studies linked Instagram to worsening body image in teenage girls. An internal survey of 20,000 users found 58% showed signs of "problematic use." A classifier that could stop recommending harmful appearance-comparison content to teens was allegedly killed by Instagram's head. And internal records suggest making teen accounts private by default would have prevented 5.4 million unwanted DM interactions per day - but the growth cost was deemed too high.

Meta is already losing rounds: a New Mexico jury ordered $375 million in March; this month a judge added another $567 million (total $942M) plus forced changes - 90-hour monthly limits for under-18s, no notifications between 10pm and 7am, likes hidden by default for minors, no romantic/sexual chatbot interactions, adults blocked from messaging minors who aren't friends, and 48-hour human review of abuse reports. A Los Angeles jury also found Meta liable over addiction.

And yes, the EU is in on it too: European regulators told Meta to stop "addictive" features like infinite scroll. So "go EU, go EU!" absolutely applies - but the big one is American: Zuckerberg himself is expected to take the witness stand. The real stakes aren't the money (Meta nets ~$60 billion a year) - it's a court order forcing structural changes to how Facebook and Instagram are built.

This is the biggest reckoning social media has ever faced. Take 'EM down.