A United States federal judge has denied Meta Platforms’ motion to dismiss a lawsuit brought by the attorneys general of 29 states, allowing claims to proceed that the company deliberately designed Facebook and Instagram to be addictive for children and concealed known harms. In the same ruling, District Judge Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers of Oakland, California, granted summary judgment to the states on a separate count, finding that Meta failed to comply with the parental notice and consent requirements of the federal Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA). The decision, issued late on Monday, means the central allegations of deceptive and unfair practices will be tested at trial, with proceedings for four of the states scheduled to begin on 18 August.

According to court filings, the state prosecutors argue that research demonstrates children’s use of the platforms can contribute to depression, anxiety, insomnia, educational disruption and self-harm, including suicide. Judge Gonzalez Rogers identified material factual disputes that preclude early dismissal, including whether the platforms are addictive, whether Meta falsely denied designing them to encourage compulsive use, and whether the services were at least partially directed at children. She wrote that if evidence shows the platforms were in fact designed to cause teens to use them compulsively to their detriment, a jury could reasonably find the company’s public statements to be false.

Meta, headquartered in Menlo Park, California, maintains that “social media addiction” is not a recognised psychiatric condition and therefore its assertions that the platforms are not addictive cannot be deemed false. The company also contends that Facebook and Instagram are directed at a general audience, not specifically at children under 13, and that it did not mislead consumers. In a statement, Meta said it strongly disagrees with the allegations and expressed confidence that evidence will demonstrate its long-standing commitment to supporting young people. The ruling comes amid a broader multi-district litigation overseen by the same judge, in which more than 2,600 individuals, school districts and local governments have sued Meta, Google’s YouTube, Snapchat and TikTok over similar claims of addictive design.

In a parallel track, TikTok and YouTube have each reached settlements with a 15-year-old Florida boy, identified as R.K.C., whose case is the second bellwether trial in the consolidated litigation. His lawyers say he has been diagnosed with generalised anxiety disorder and major depressive disorder linked to social media use that began at age eight. The trial against the remaining defendants, Meta and Snap, is set for 27 July in Los Angeles County Superior Court. The first bellwether trial ended in March with a $6 million verdict against Meta and YouTube, which both plan to appeal. The legal pressure on platforms is reinforced by a study from researchers at New York University and Northeastern University, who found that roughly 60 per cent of child-safety features on Instagram, YouTube, TikTok and Snapchat failed to work as advertised, intensifying scrutiny from regulators in Australia, the United Kingdom and elsewhere who are moving to impose age-based access restrictions.