The court declined to hear Meta’s appeal and confirmed that the US state of Vermont did have jurisdiction over the dispute.
The US Supreme Court declined Meta’s bid to avoid a lawsuit introduced by Vermont’s attorney general.
The lawsuit accuses the tech giant of designing its platform, Instagram, to be addictive for young users – a claim that big tech organisations have been increasingly facing in the last few months, with a California jury finding both Meta and YouTube to be guilty.
The Supreme Court justices rejected Meta’s appeal and confirmed the US state of Vermont did have jurisdiction over the dispute.
Vermont’s case argued that Instagram was designed to “exploit teenagers’ developing brains” to foster addiction as well as to sell more space to advertisers, which included ads which targeted teens in the state. It also claimed that Meta intentionally misled consumers about the safety of its product.
The lawsuit is part of a wider effort from 42 state attorney generals, co-ordinated across the US with enforcement actions in state and federal courts.
Meta said Vermont did not allege that it designed the app or any features within the state – or that any of the alleged misrepresentations about the app’s addictiveness or safety were made there.
“A company that reaches out and purposefully avails itself of a forum state’s market for its own economic gain can expect to be haled into court in that jurisdiction to account for its conduct related to those business activities,” the Vermont Supreme Court said.
Meta has struggled against legal challenges in the last few months, after being found to have risked user safety to fuel its own algorithms.
Several test cases have hit courtrooms across the world, primarily focusing on the alleged addictive design of the platforms, lack of safety features for children, and ineffective age restriction policies.
Last week, Meta settled a social media addiction case brought forward by the state of Kentucky, which sued the tech giant over the cost of handling mental health crises allegedly caused by the addictive nature of its social media platforms.
This was a test case for around 1,200 other US school districts, which have launched claims against social media firms. School districts in Kentucky and elsewhere allege the companies designed their respective platforms to be addictive, which has resulted in mental health struggles for children, including depression and self harm.
