A closely watched courtroom battle over Instagram’s impact on young users is underway in Tennessee, where state lawyers have accused Meta of putting business growth ahead of the well-being of teenagers despite receiving repeated internal warnings about the platform’s effects.
Opening arguments in the Nashville trial painted a picture of a company that allegedly knew certain Instagram features encouraged compulsive use among adolescents but chose not to remove or significantly alter them. According to the state, Meta’s own internal studies identified links between excessive use and issues such as depression, eating disorders and self-harm, yet features including autoplay, endless scrolling and push notifications remained in place because they kept users engaged for longer periods.
The lawsuit, brought by Tennessee Attorney General Jonathan Skrmetti’s office, seeks financial penalties against Meta and asks the court to require changes to Instagram that the state believes are necessary to better protect young users.
The trial is expected to continue for about seven weeks. If jurors determine that Meta violated state law, the proceedings will move into a second phase in which the judge will decide the extent of any financial sanctions and whether the company should be ordered to redesign parts of the platform.
During the state’s opening presentation, attorneys focused on the psychological effects of smartphone notifications, arguing that the unpredictable arrival of alerts creates reward patterns that are especially powerful for teenage brains. To reinforce the point, lawyers played the familiar notification sound heard on smartphones, describing it as an example of technology designed to encourage repeated engagement.
The state also highlighted a 2017 internal company document that reportedly acknowledged features such as notifications and infinite scrolling were “inherently at odds with well-being” and suggested users should be warned about the potential risks. Tennessee argued that such public warnings never materialized.
Meta rejected the allegations, telling jurors that the internal documents demonstrate the company’s efforts to identify potential problems and improve its products rather than conceal them.
The company’s legal team argued that Meta has openly discussed online safety challenges, invested in tools intended to reduce problematic use, and introduced features aimed at helping parents and educators supervise teenagers’ online activity.
Meta further maintained that complex issues such as youth addiction, suicide and child exploitation cannot be attributed to a single technology company. Its lawyers argued that protecting teenagers online requires cooperation among parents, schools, technology firms and society as a whole.
The Tennessee case is part of a much broader legal campaign against Meta across the United States. Numerous states have filed lawsuits alleging the company’s social media platforms contribute to mental health harms among children and adolescents. While many of those cases have been combined in federal court, several states are pursuing separate litigation in their own courts.
Earlier this year, a jury in New Mexico found Meta liable in a similar case and ordered the company to pay **$375 million**. The court there is still considering whether additional penalties should be imposed, including changes to the operation of Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp within the state.
