“It’s not how to publish but how to attract you to the information,” one of the judges noted. “It’s about how to attract the eyeballs. It’s indifferent to the content, right. It doesn’t care if it’s Thomas Paine’s ‘Common Sense’ or nonsense. It’s totally focused on getting you to look at it.”
On Friday, the highest court in Massachusetts heard oral arguments in a state-led lawsuit alleging that Meta, the owner of Facebook, Instagram, and WhatsApp, intentionally designed platform features that it knew would be “addictive” to its youngest users.
According to PBS, the lawsuit was originally filed by Massachusetts Attorney General Andrea Campbell in 2024. In court documents, Campbell said that Meta introduced a wide range of potentially addictive features to increase its profits, despite knowing that its actions could have an adverse impact on the hundreds of thousands of teenagers in Massachusetts who use its products.
“We are making claims based only on the tools that Meta has developed because its own research shows they encourage addiction to the platform in a variety of ways,” Massachusetts Solicitor General David Kravitz said in court, adding that the state’s claim has nothing to do with the algorithms Meta uses or, for that matter, the company’s longstanding inability to moderate content.
Meta, in turn, said that it disagrees with the lawsuit’s allegations and is “confident the evidence will show our … commitment to supporting young people.” Mark Mosier, an attorney for Meta, also told the court that the lawsuit’s success would effectively “impose liabilities for performing traditional publishing functions.”
Mosier also claimed that Meta’s decisions are protected by the First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution.
“The Commonwealth would have a better chance of getting around the First Amendment if they alleged that the speech was false or fraudulent,” Mosier said. “But when they acknowledge that its truthful that brings it in the heart of the First Amendment.”
PBS notes that several of the judges hearing the case expressed concern with functions on Meta-owned platforms, such push-notifications.
“I didn’t understand the claims to be that Meta is relaying false information vis-à-vis the notifications but that it has created an algorithm of incessant notifications […] designed so as to feed into the fear of missing out, “fomo,” that teenagers generally have,” Justice Dalila Wendlandt said. “That is the absis of the claim.”
Justice Scott Kafker also noted that Meta must make decisions about how it chooses to relay notifications and other information to its users.
“It’s not how to publish but how to attract you to the information,” Kafker said. “It’s about how to attract the eyeballs. It’s indifferent to the content, right. It doesn’t care if it’s Thomas Paine’s ‘Common Sense’ or nonsense. It’s totally focused on getting you to look at it.”
Sources
Massachusetts court hears arguments in lawsuit alleging Meta designed apps to be addictive to kids
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