Florida AG’s Bid to Sue Meta on Home Turf Faces Skeptical Judge

A federal judge overseeing a case from dozens of state attorneys general alleging Meta Platforms Inc. addicts children and violates privacy law appeared skeptical that Florida could keep its lawsuit on it’s home turf.

Judge Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers at a Friday hearing in Oakland, California scrutinized the Florida attorney general’s argument that the suit should remain in the US District Court for the Middle District of Florida because Meta Payments Inc., the social media giant’s payment process, is incorporated in the state.

Florida’s lawsuit was filed in that court last fall, the same day that a multi-state coalition of over 30 AGs brought a similar joint suit against Meta before Rogers, who sits on the US District Court for the Northern District of California.

Rogers is overseeing a multidistrict litigation for all federal cases filed nationwide that relate to social media addiction. That includes hundreds of private civil suits from parents of children injured by social media, school districts claiming social media disrupts learning, and the state AG lawsuits.

The Florida AG’s lawsuit was consolidated into the MDL before Rogers, but the agency is seeking to have it returned to Florida for trial.

The multi-state and Florida lawsuits both alleged that Meta used powerful algorithms to ensnare and addict teens in the name of profit, and also violated a federal online child privacy law that requires children under 13 to get parental consent to use a platform.

The legal scrutiny of Meta comes largely from 2021 revelations by former Meta employee Frances Haugen, who claimed the company knew that its social media products were harming the mental health of children.

Meta moved to dismiss the Florida AG’s lawsuit on the basis that the Middle District of Florida didn’t have jurisdiction over the case because the issues about privacy and algorithm design features arise from Meta’s headquarters in California.

The Florida AG countered that Meta Payments Inc., the company’s payment and advertising data processor, is incorporated in the state. That subsidiary plays a key role in collecting data on children, the Florida AG’s attorney Donna Valin said at Friday’s hearing.

Rogers didn’t appear to buy some of the Florida AG’s arguments that a subsidiary could create “common enterprise liability” for the whole company.

“Not every subsidiary qualifies under this heading,” Rogers said. “There has to be more.”

Covington & Burling LLP represents Meta.

The case is In Re: Social Media Adolescent Addiction/Pers. Inj. Products Liab. Litigation, N.D. Cal., No. 4:22-md-03047, 9/13/24.