The Arkansas Attorney General’s Office is asking a state court to set a trial date in a lawsuit against social media giant Meta — the company that owns Facebook and Instagram.
In 2023, Arkansas Attorney General Tim Griffin sued Meta in Polk County Circuit Court for allegedly misleading the public about the safety and addictiveness of its social media platforms.
The lawsuit says Meta structured Facebook and Instagram “to exploit multiple neuropsychological traits in youth.”
It notes that Facebook and Instagram are built around algorithms intentionally designed “to exploit human psychology and foster addiction to maximize users’ screen time.”
The A.G.’s legal complaint says this exploitation is especially true of young users with developing brains.
The lawsuit also says that, “youth mental health problems have advanced in lockstep with the growth of social media platforms that have been deliberately designed to attract and addict youth by amplifying harmful material, dosing users with dopamine hits, and thereby driving youth engagement and advertising revenue.”
The A.G. is asking the court to stop Meta’s actions and award the state up to $10,000 per violation under the Arkansas Deceptive Trade Practices Act.
In a request filed August 28, Deputy Attorney General Christine Cryer wrote to the court:
Given the age of the case and the amount of work put into preparing the case for trial, we believe the time is ripe to assign this case a trial date. Obtaining a trial date would allow the parties to develop a scheduling order and establish deadlines to govern the progression of this case through its final phases and on toward resolution. With the amount of remaining work that will be necessary to make this case trial-ready, we believe that a 2026 trial setting is reasonable.
The State anticipates that three weeks of trial days should be sufficient to adequately present the issues. This case presents a uniquely important and incredibly urgent matter of public health and safety concerning the youth of our State. Accordingly, we are making this request early so that the Court has ample opportunity to review its docket and find a trial setting that will enable the Court to get this case in front of a jury in 2026.
Social media platforms aren’t just websites. These are multibillion dollar businesses. These companies have an obligation to protect their users. We appreciate the Arkansas Attorney General’s office working to do exactly that.
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