U.S. News

Tennessee Put Meta on Trial Today Over Claims Instagram Was Built to Addict Children

By Mike Harper · July 20, 2026

Jury selection began Monday morning in Nashville in a case that could reshape how social media companies are held accountable for what they build — not just what gets posted on it.

Tennessee sued Meta alleging the company knowingly designed Instagram to be addictive to children and teenagers, drove them toward compulsive use, and then misled the public about the platform’s safety. The lawsuit, filed by Attorney General Jonathan Skrmetti as part of a 42-state effort against Meta, accuses the company of violating Tennessee’s consumer protection law through deliberate product design rather than third-party content.

“Meta dedicated vast resources to understand Young Users’ psychology and behavior so it could better exploit Young Users’ developmental vulnerabilities through irresistible design features,” the state’s complaint reads.

The specific features at issue include autoplay video, Reels, push notifications, and disappearing content — all design choices Tennessee says were engineered to keep teenagers on the platform longer than they intended to stay. The complaint cites internal Meta research showing the company was aware Instagram was causing increased levels of depression, anxiety, and sleep disruption in young users and continued offering the features anyway without disclosing the findings.

Tennessee’s trial is the second state case against Meta to reach a jury. The first, brought by New Mexico earlier this year, ended with a jury finding that Meta had misled consumers about the safety of its Facebook, Instagram, and WhatsApp platforms — and awarding the state $375 million in damages. That verdict is now on appeal, and a judge in New Mexico is separately weighing whether to order changes to the platform itself.

Meta has denied the allegations. The company argues it has spent a decade building age-appropriate defaults and parental controls, and that Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act shields it from liability for harm that stems from content posted by users rather than from Meta’s own conduct. Tennessee’s case is specifically framed to sidestep that defense — the state is arguing the platform design itself, not the content on it, is what harmed children.

The trial is expected to run seven weeks and unfold in two phases. In the first, a jury will decide whether Meta violated Tennessee law. If it does, a second phase begins in which a judge will consider civil penalties of up to $1,000 per violation and whether to order changes to the platform itself.

The Tennessee case opens as a federal trial involving 29 states is set to begin August 18 in California, and a third trial — filed by a Florida teenager against both Meta and Snap — is scheduled to start July 27. A California jury returned a $6 million verdict against Meta and Google in a separate social media addiction case in March.

Tennessee’s AG office said the complaint specifically names decisions by Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg as part of the conduct the state is challenging. Zuckerberg is not a defendant, but the state’s theory is that leadership decisions — not just algorithmic ones — drove the platform toward designs that targeted children.

For the parents of teenagers who have spent the last several years watching their children struggle with anxiety, depression, and compulsive phone use, the Nashville courthouse is where that question finally gets a jury.