Tennessee puts Instagram's compelling design under scrutiny as Meta prepares for a seven-week jury battle.

      Meta faced trial in Nashville on Monday regarding Tennessee's claim that it designed Instagram to encourage compulsive scrolling among teenagers, marking one of the first state cases to bring the issue of addictive design to a jury. Jury selection commenced on July 20 and is expected to last around seven weeks, as part of a broader trend of litigation where a federal judge recently allowed states to argue that Meta has enticed children into using its apps.

      Tennessee's attorney general, Jonathan Skrmetti, argues that the company intentionally developed features like autoplay, Reels, notifications, and disappearing posts to enhance engagement among minors while publicly downplaying associated risks. The complaint also asserts that Meta concealed internal research connecting Instagram to harm for young users, an allegation that features in a separate $1.4 trillion penalty demand from four other states set for an August trial in California.

      The state claims that internal documents indicate executives, including CEO Mark Zuckerberg, were cautioned about the app's impact on teenagers but responded sluggishly. Meta contests this interpretation and maintains that its research has been misrepresented in legal filings nationwide.

      The case will be heard in two phases. Initially, a jury will determine whether Meta violated Tennessee's consumer-protection law, followed by a second phase to consider penalties and any modification orders for the app. This structure allows the state to differentiate between questions of wrongdoing and the more complex issue of remedies, giving the jury a more defined initial task than the extensive complaint might imply.

      Under the consumer-protection statute, the state is seeking damages of up to $1,000 for each violation, a potentially substantial amount given Instagram's large teenage user base. Tennessee also requests the court to mandate changes to features it claims were designed to be addictive.

      Meta denies the allegations, stating, “We’ve spent a decade building safe, age-appropriate defaults for teens alongside simple tools for parents to set the right boundaries for their family,” according to a company spokesperson. The firm argues that the lawsuit targets user-generated content rather than the platform's design, asserting that Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act protects it from liability.

      The jury's interpretation of this issue could influence the numerous state cases awaiting consideration. Tennessee's lawsuit, initiated in Nashville, is part of several state actions that gained momentum following a coalition of attorneys general pursuing legal action against Meta in 2023.

      Skrmetti's office has positioned the trial as a test of whether consumer-protection law can address not just the content presented on a social network, but also its structural design. Meta arrives in court amid a series of legal defeats. In March, a New Mexico jury ordered the company to pay $375 million in a separate child-safety case, and a Los Angeles jury found it liable, along with YouTube, for negatively impacting a young woman's mental health.

      Meta has announced its intent to appeal the Los Angeles verdict and contends that no court has deemed its products defectively designed. The company highlights its years of investment in parental control tools and dedicated teen accounts that limit communication with younger users.

      International regulators are also exploring similar matters. The European Commission is investigating addictive design elements on Facebook and Instagram under the Digital Services Act, focusing on aspects such as infinite scrolling, autoplay, and notifications targeted at children.

      The timing is challenging for Meta, as the Nashville trial extends into the autumn and coincides with the larger California case, where the court has already refused to dismiss the states' primary claims and scheduled arguments on damages for August. The jury's assessment of Instagram's design remains uncertain; a ruling in favor of Tennessee could provide a model for other states, while a verdict in Meta's favor could dampen the momentum gained by plaintiffs in recent adverse decisions.