Meta Platforms said in a court filing that four states are seeking $1.4 trillion in penalties over accusations it designed Facebook and Instagram to addict young users and misled the public about their safety.
The figure, which had not previously been disclosed and is close to Meta’s market capitalisation of around $1.5 trillion, was put forward in the company’s response to attorneys general filings on how penalties should be calculated if the states prevail.
Meta told the court the amount was unsupported by evidence and argued, "A sanction of that size has no analog in the history of consumer protection enforcement."
The states’ filings are sealed, but at a June hearing they said they were tallying penalties by multiplying the number of violations by fines set in state law, with the violation count based on estimated numbers of teens and young users affected.
The August trial in Oakland, California before U.S. District Judge Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers will address claims under the federal Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act and the four states’ consumer-protection allegations.
Twenty-nine states have sued Meta in federal court, most alleging COPPA violations for collecting children's data without proper parental consent.
A further 14 states have brought related claims that will be heard at a separate trial in February.
Meta has denied it misled consumers, saying social media addiction is not an established psychiatric condition and statements that its platforms were not addictive could not be false.
The litigation sits alongside thousands of other lawsuits against Meta and peers over features alleged to harm teens, and follows a March jury award of $375 million to New Mexico after finding Meta had misled consumers.
