Oakland judge sets stage for bellwether social media addiction trial

OAKLAND, Calif. (CN) — A federal judge firmly questioned both parties Wednesday ahead of a looming jury trial for a bellwether case brought by school districts claiming social media companies are responsible for compulsive use and addiction.

U.S. District Judge Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers heard several motions to exclude witness testimony, define certain terms and seal documents from both parties, while also discussing pretrial instructions, including possible edits on jury instructions.

Attorneys for social media companies Meta — which owns Facebook and Instagram — Snap, TikTok and Bytedance said daily jury instructions from Rogers may be necessary to avoid prejudicing the jurors through some of the content evidence that will be presented by the plaintiffs.

Snap attorney Jonathan Blavin argued the companies are shielded by Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act of 1996, which generally provides platforms immunity for their third-party content. However, school districts, including the Breathitt County Board of Education in Kentucky, contend design features made to keep kids’ eyes scrolling and interacting with the content are also a part of the case.

The companies are aware their design features may cause addictive behavior, the districts claim, leading to mental health harms and disruptions to classroom learning.

Rogers, a Barack Obama appointee, denied to seal any documents or exhibits, and made clear, in emphatic terms, that the trial was going to be a reasonable, truth-seeking function.

“I do not tolerate gamesmanship,” she said. “There will be no Perry Masons here. No grandstanding.”

She said it was unclear how many jurors will ultimately be needed for the six-week trial but that the parties should be ready to start early in the morning each day, and she doesn’t like sidebars, and will likely deny any sought by the attorneys.

Rogers noted, especially considering the bellwether trial in Los Angeles that also litigated social media addiction claims, some high-profile witnesses like Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg may be called to the stand, but they will be treated the same as any other witness.

“This will be a public trial, I am assuming you are going to have some witnesses with high profile,” she said. “There are no special privileges — they have to walk through that front door.”

The defendants questioned whether some apex witnesses, such as Snap CEO Evan Spiegel or Zuckerberg are needed to testify, especially since Zuckerberg testified last month at the LA trial. The jury in that case has not yet reached a verdict.

Rogers did not decide on the matter, other than to say, their testimony may be necessary during the trial.

Arguments over whether to exclude certain expert witnesses took the bulk of Wednesday’s hearing, with the school districts saying they want to bring in evidence showing similar addictive behavior with vaping or opioids.

The districts’ attorneys assured Rogers they wouldn’t namedrop recent litigation, as Rogers said she was uninterested in “relitigating cases,” and it was “irrelevant” to the social media case.

“Let me be clear about something,” said Rogers. “Experts are not conduits for hearsay.”

The initial multidistrict litigation consolidated hundreds of personal injury lawsuits on behalf of children and adolescents by school districts, local governments and state attorneys general. These plaintiffs claim Meta’s Facebook and Instagram, Google’s YouTube, ByteDance’s TikTok and Snap’s Snapchat are designed to foster compulsive use by minors.

In a joint lawsuit filed in late 2023, 33 states claimed that Meta built a business model that maximizes young users’ time on its platforms and employs psychologically manipulative platform features. They accused the tech behemoth of publishing misleading reports on user harm and continuing to downplay the negative consequences of its products.

Jury selection is scheduled to begin June 12.