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The Daily Docket

The Daily Docket

A newsletter by Reuters and Westlaw

By Caitlin Tremblay

Good morning. Today Meta faces a landmark social media addiction trial that could reshape how Facebook and Instagram operate. Plus, a federal judge will hold a hearing related to President Trump’s latest efforts to curb birthright citizenship; the 10th Circuit will rehear a case involving Colorado’s interest rate caps; and Morgan & Morgan sued the Florida Bar over its celebrity advertising ban. Here is the highest-resolution look yet at the surface of the sun. ☀️ Hope your Tuesday is sun-sational.

Meta faces 29-state trial that could reshape Instagram and Facebook

 

REUTERS/Dado Ruvic/Illustration

Why it matters: The trial is one of the most significant legal challenges yet to a social media company over youth mental health, with potentially massive financial penalties for Meta and the possibility of court-ordered changes to Facebook and Instagram nationwide.

Here are six things to know:

  1. A coalition of 29 states is taking Meta to trial. Colorado, California, New Jersey and Kentucky are leading a bipartisan group of states accusing Meta of designing Facebook and Instagram in ways that harmed young users' mental health and misled the public about the platforms' safety. Read more about why the states banded together here. Meta denies the allegations.
  2. The case could force major changes to Facebook and Instagram. The states are asking the court to require measures such as age restrictions, ending infinite scroll and other platform design changes that could reshape how millions of users interact with Meta's apps.
  3. Huge financial penalties are at stake. Meta has said potential penalties could reach as much as $1.4 trillion, while state attorneys general suggested the figure could be closer to $200 billion, making it one of the highest-stakes cases the company has faced.
  4. The trial will feature top Meta executives and internal documents. CEO Mark Zuckerberg and Instagram head Adam Mosseri are expected to testify. The states plan to present internal research, company documents and testimony from former employees and experts.
  5. There’s a jury, but it won’t decide Meta’s fate. In a rare use of an advisory jury, eight jurors will hear the evidence and render a verdict, but the final decision will rest with U.S. District Judge Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers in Oakland, California.
  6. The lawsuit grew out of the Frances Haugen revelations. The case stems from a multistate investigation launched after whistleblower Frances Haugen testified in 2021 that Meta knew its products could harm young users but failed to make available safety changes. Meta denies the allegations, saying it has invested heavily in protections for teens and that the states cannot show actual harm.
 
 

Coming up today

  • Birthright citizenship: U.S. District Judge Deborah Boardman in Maryland will hold a hearing to take up a request by immigrant rights advocates to reopen a case challenging President Trump's initial executive order curtailing birthright citizenship after he issued new ones that again sought to limit the number of people eligible for birthright citizenship. 
  • Banking: The 10th Circuit will rehear en banc a case testing whether Colorado can enforce state interest rate caps on loans made to residents by out-of-state, state-chartered banks under the Depository Institutions Deregulation and Monetary Control Act of 1980. The court will re-evaluate a previous 10th Circuit panel’s interpretation of where a loan is “made.”
  • Antitrust: U.S. District Judge Myong Joun in Boston will hold a post-trial evidentiary hearing related to damages after a jury found Takeda Pharmaceutical liable for engaging in an anticompetitive scheme to delay a generic version of its constipation drug Amitiza. 
  • Government: U.S. District Judge Dabney Friedrich in D.C. will hold a preliminary injunction hearing in a lawsuit seeking to block the Trump administration from painting the exterior granite of the Eisenhower Executive Office Building. Cultural Heritage Partners claim the administration is skipping mandated historic preservation reviews and that painting the granite would speed up stone decay. The administration claims the building is ugly and the paint is meant to “beautify” it.
  • Crypto: U.S. District Judge Ana Reyes in D.C. will hold a pre-motion conference in a proposed class action accusing Steve Bannon, Boris Epshteyn and others of selling unregistered cryptocurrency to thousands of people while concealing facts about the conservative-coded digital token’s risks and governance.
  • Government: U.S. District Judge Angel Kelley in Boston will hold a status conference in a lawsuit seeking to force the Trump administration to reinstall exhibits and signs on topics like slavery and climate change that it had removed from parks and monuments nationwide. Kelley previously issued a preliminary injunction. 

Court calendars are subject to last-minute docket changes.

 

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