After a coalition of states sued Meta in 2023 for allegedly designing addictive features for kids in its apps, four states were selected to represent their claims: California, Colorado, Kentucky and New Jersey. Top prosecutors of those states now aim to prove in federal court that Meta deliberately made Facebook and Instagram addictive for children. Meta is "confident in our record of protecting teens online and will continue to defend ourselves against claims that misrepresent the facts," Meta told AFP last week. With so many plaintiffs suing Meta and other social media companies, these lawsuits could potentially "go on for decades," Joralemon said. On Monday, a federal appeals court ruled that more than 3,000 additional lawsuits filed against Meta, YouTube-parent Google, Snap and TikTok can proceed.