2026年8月18日 / 美国东部时间上午11:55 / 哥伦比亚广播公司/美联社
加利福尼亚联邦法院的这场对Meta平台至关重要的审判将于周二开启开庭陈述，各州在此案中要求该公司为社交媒体对儿童造成的伤害支付数十亿美元赔偿。
加利福尼亚州、科罗拉多州、肯塔基州和新泽西州的总检察长寻求的罚款理论上总额最高可达1.4万亿美元，同时要求该公司调整Facebook和Instagram的运营方式。这四个州是2023年29家起诉这家科技巨头的州之一，指控其在儿童安全和隐私方面存在问题。其余25个州将在后续阶段参与审判。该公司还面临州法院的多起诉讼。
这起诉讼指控这家社交媒体巨头故意设计让儿童沉迷其平台的功能，从而加剧了青少年心理健康危机。诉讼还称，Meta经常在未获得家长同意的情况下收集13岁以下儿童的数据，违反了联邦法律。
“本周，我们将迎来美国历史上规模最大的消费者保护诉讼庭审。我们将向陪审团证明，Meta隐瞒了其已知的产品对年轻人造成的伤害，因为对此视而不见能带来更高利润，”肯塔基州总检察长拉塞尔·科尔曼在一份书面声明中表示。
Meta表示，它认为自己有充分的辩护理由。
“我们为自己在平台上保护青少年的记录以及多年来——甚至在这些案件提起之前——投入大量精力制定保护措施，直至今日的行动感到自豪。我们期待在法庭上向法官和陪审团展示这些事实，”该公司在一份书面声明中说道。
位于奥克兰的美国地区法官伊冯娜·冈萨雷斯·罗杰斯将主持这场预计持续6至8周的庭审，Meta首席执行官马克·扎克伯格及其他高管和前雇员将出庭作证。冈萨雷斯·罗杰斯于2011年由前总统巴拉克·奥巴马任命为法官，曾审理过一系列涉及大型科技公司的复杂知名案件，其中包括埃隆·马斯克起诉OpenAI及其创始人的案件，以及Epic Games起诉苹果应用商店的案件。
如果Meta在此次审判中败诉，法院将拥有广泛的自由裁量权来确定罚款金额，法律专家表示，接近1.4万亿美元的罚款几乎不可能出现。
此次审判是针对Meta平台及谷歌旗下YouTube、TikTok和Snap等其他社交媒体公司的一系列诉讼中的最新一起，这些诉讼均指控其平台伤害年轻人、非法收集他们的数据，并且故意设计成让人上瘾的模式。
本月早些时候，美国联邦上诉法院驳回了Meta的上诉，为数千起指控其社交媒体平台鼓励成瘾性使用的诉讼扫清了道路。
今年3月，Meta和YouTube被认定对制造导致青少年出现有害和成瘾行为的产品负有法律责任。TikTok及Snapchat的母公司Snap最初也被列入诉讼，但在1月下旬庭审开始前达成和解。该案陪审团判给首席原告600万美元赔偿。
https://www.cbsnews.com/video/instagram-owner-meta-accused-of-causing-social-media-addiction-in-children/
脸书母公司Meta因大规模诉讼被指控导致儿童社交媒体成瘾
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Meta’s federal trial over child social media addiction set to begin
August 18, 2026 / 11:55 AM EDT / CBS/AP
Opening statements are set to kick off Tuesday in a pivotal trial for Meta Platforms in a California federal court, where states are seeking billions of dollars in damages for social media harms to children.
Attorneys general from California, Colorado, Kentucky and New Jersey are seeking a financial penalty that could, in theory, total as much as $1.4 trillion plus changes to how the company operates Facebook and Instagram. The states are among 29 that sued the tech giant in 2023 over child safety and privacy. The other 25 states will go to trial later. The company also faces lawsuits in state courts.
The lawsuit accuses the social media giant of contributing to the youth mental health crisis by knowingly and deliberately designing features that addict children to its platforms. It also argues that Meta routinely collects data on children under 13 without their parents’ consent, in violation of federal law.
“This week, we’re in court with the largest consumer protection lawsuit in American history. We’ll show a jury that Meta concealed what it knew about the harm its products cause young people because looking away was more profitable,” Kentucky Attorney General Russell Coleman said in a written statement.
Meta said it believes it has a strong case.
“We are proud of our record in protecting teens on our platforms and the amount of effort that we’ve put into developing protections over the years, even before these cases were ever filed, and continuing to the present day. We look forward to showing the judge and the jury those facts in court,” the company said in a written statement.
U.S. District Judge Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers in Oakland will oversee the proceedings, which are expected to last six to eight weeks and include testimony from Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg and other executives and former employees. Gonzalez Rogers, appointed to the bench by former president Barack Obama in 2011, has overseen a bevy of complex, high-profile cases involving Big Tech. These include Elon Musk’s lawsuit against OpenAI and its founders as well as Epic Games’ lawsuit against Apple over its app store.
If Meta loses the trial, the court would have wide discretion over the size of any financial penalty, and legal experts say anything close to $1.4 trillion would be unlikely.
The trial is the latest in an avalanche of lawsuits against Meta Platforms and other social media companies including Google’s YouTube, TikTok and Snap, over arguments that their platforms harm young people, illegally collect their data and are deliberately designed to addict them.
Earlier this month, a U.S. federal appeals court denied Meta’s appeal, clearing the way for thousands of lawsuits alleging that its social media platforms encourage addictive usage can proceed.
In March, Meta and YouTube were held legally liable for creating products that led to harmful and addictive behavior by young users. TikTok and Snapchat parent Snap were named in the original complaint, but settled before the trial began in late January. The jury in that case awarded $6 million to the lead plaintiff.
https://www.cbsnews.com/video/instagram-owner-meta-accused-of-causing-social-media-addiction-in-children/
Instagram owner Meta accused of causing social media addiction in children in massive lawsuit
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