Supreme Court Lets Vermont's Meta Lawsuit Proceed, Opening Door To 50-State Legal Wave (fortune.com)
(Friday May 29, 2026 @11:00AM (BeauHD)
from the moving-forward dept.)
- Reference: 0183438502
- News link: https://yro.slashdot.org/story/26/05/28/215245/supreme-court-lets-vermonts-meta-lawsuit-proceed-opening-door-to-50-state-legal-wave
- Source link: https://fortune.com/2026/05/27/supreme-court-meta-instagram-teen-lawsuit-states-vermont/
An anonymous reader quotes a report from Fortune:
> The Supreme Court on Tuesday [1]rejected a push to avoid a lawsuit alleging that Facebook and Instagram harmed young users, a decision that comes as social media companies [2]increasingly face legal scrutiny . Parent company Meta appealed after Vermont's highest court allowed [3]a suit filed by its attorney general in 2023 to move forward. The company is facing similar lawsuits from states across the country, accusing it of knowingly designing addictive features. Meta had argued that it can't be sued in Vermont court because neither the company nor the app design has specific ties to the state. Vermont countered that the sites' large number of teen users gives its courts jurisdiction.
>
> The Supreme Court declined to hear the appeal in a brief, unexplained order, as is typical. The procedural decision comes after court losses for Meta and YouTube in [4]social [5]media [6]addiction lawsuits in California and New Mexico. [...] Meta, for its part, has said that it has already introduced dozens of tools to support teens and their families and suggested it would have worked with the states on standards for youth social media use. Vermont Attorney General Charity Clark applauded the decision, saying it affirms "that companies that choose to do business in Vermont, like Meta, can be held accountable when they harm kids."
[1] https://fortune.com/2026/05/27/supreme-court-meta-instagram-teen-lawsuit-states-vermont/
[2] https://meta.slashdot.org/story/26/03/25/1745232/meta-and-youtube-found-negligent-in-landmark-social-media-addiction-case
[3] https://ago.vermont.gov/blog/2023/10/24/attorney-general-clark-sues-meta-instagrams-harm-teens-mental-health
[4] https://yro.slashdot.org/story/26/01/21/0449250/snap-settles-social-media-addiction-lawsuit-ahead-of-landmark-trial
[5] https://meta.slashdot.org/story/26/03/25/1745232/meta-and-youtube-found-negligent-in-landmark-social-media-addiction-case
[6] https://meta.slashdot.org/story/26/03/25/172211/meta-loses-trial-after-arguing-child-exploitation-was-inevitable
> The Supreme Court on Tuesday [1]rejected a push to avoid a lawsuit alleging that Facebook and Instagram harmed young users, a decision that comes as social media companies [2]increasingly face legal scrutiny . Parent company Meta appealed after Vermont's highest court allowed [3]a suit filed by its attorney general in 2023 to move forward. The company is facing similar lawsuits from states across the country, accusing it of knowingly designing addictive features. Meta had argued that it can't be sued in Vermont court because neither the company nor the app design has specific ties to the state. Vermont countered that the sites' large number of teen users gives its courts jurisdiction.
>
> The Supreme Court declined to hear the appeal in a brief, unexplained order, as is typical. The procedural decision comes after court losses for Meta and YouTube in [4]social [5]media [6]addiction lawsuits in California and New Mexico. [...] Meta, for its part, has said that it has already introduced dozens of tools to support teens and their families and suggested it would have worked with the states on standards for youth social media use. Vermont Attorney General Charity Clark applauded the decision, saying it affirms "that companies that choose to do business in Vermont, like Meta, can be held accountable when they harm kids."
[1] https://fortune.com/2026/05/27/supreme-court-meta-instagram-teen-lawsuit-states-vermont/
[2] https://meta.slashdot.org/story/26/03/25/1745232/meta-and-youtube-found-negligent-in-landmark-social-media-addiction-case
[3] https://ago.vermont.gov/blog/2023/10/24/attorney-general-clark-sues-meta-instagrams-harm-teens-mental-health
[4] https://yro.slashdot.org/story/26/01/21/0449250/snap-settles-social-media-addiction-lawsuit-ahead-of-landmark-trial
[5] https://meta.slashdot.org/story/26/03/25/1745232/meta-and-youtube-found-negligent-in-landmark-social-media-addiction-case
[6] https://meta.slashdot.org/story/26/03/25/172211/meta-loses-trial-after-arguing-child-exploitation-was-inevitable
Good, we need a lot more of this (Score:2)
by DeplorableCodeMonkey ( 4828467 )
The science around addiction is much more advanced in 2026 than it was when many of us were kids and teens. Companies are much better at designing things in a way meant to artificially stimulate dopamine and things like that well above and beyond what normies can handle.
There is also a distinct difference between this sort of behavior and just selling something that is commonly known to be literally addicting like booze and drugs. Risking an addiction, with something known to be highly addicting, is differe
The algorithm is designed to maximize profit (Score:3)
by Locke2005 ( 849178 )
The fact that the algorithm harms people is an inconsequential side effect.
Good (Score:4, Insightful)
I want to see Meta destroyed.
Re: (Score:2)
They'll make a deal with the king to promote more non woke content.
Re: (Score:3)
"In its most recent Q1 2026 earnings report, Meta’s Reality Labs division posted an operating loss of $4.03 billion on $402 million in revenue.Since late 2020, the unit—which develops VR headsets, AR smart glasses, and metaverse software—has accumulated over $80 billion in total operating losses."
Does that make you feel any better? Zuck renamed to company for something that has cost them $80 billion in losses... so far.
Then enforce antitrust law (Score:2)
Every few years a new social media site comes up and all the kids go there because they don't want to be on the same site as their parents because of course they don't.
And then every few years Facebook either buys that site out or runs them out of business by underpricing advertising in that space until there's no revenue for that company and they run out of investor cash. It's gotten to the point where nobody's really challenging Facebook anymore for anything except hoping for a buyout.
Facebook doe