A federal judge has yet to decide whether key witnesses such as Snap’s Evan Spiegel or Meta’s Mark Zuckerberg should testify after appearing recently at another trial in Los Angeles.
OAKLAND, Calif. (CN) – A federal judge pointedly questioned both sides Wednesday ahead of an upcoming meeting jury trial for a case brought by school districts alleging that social media companies are liable for compulsive use and addiction.
U.S. District Judge Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers heard several motions to exclude witness testimony, set certain terms and seal documents from both sides, also discussing pretrial instructions, including possible edits to jury instructions.
Lawyers for social media companies Meta — which owns Facebook and Instagram — Snap, TikTok and Bytedance said Rogers’ daily jury instructions may be necessary to avoid prejudicing the jury through some of the content evidence plaintiffs will present.
Snap attorney Jonathan Blavin argued that the companies are protected by Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act of 1996, which generally grants platforms immunity for their third-party content. However, school districts, including the Breathitt County Board of Education in Kentucky, contend that design features made to keep children’s eyes moving and interacting with content are also part of the case.
The companies are aware that their design features can cause addictive behavior, the districts claim, leading to mental health impairments and disruptions to classroom learning.
Rogers, an appointee of Barack Obama, denied sealing any documents or exhibits and made it clear, in no uncertain terms, that the trial would be a reasonable, truth-seeking function.
“I don’t tolerate gamesmanship,” she said. “There will be no Perry Masons here. No greatness.”
She said it was unclear how many jurors would ultimately be needed for the six-week trial, but that the parties should be ready to begin early each day, and she dislikes sidebars and would likely deny any requested by attorneys.
Rogers noted, especially considering the bellwether trial in Los Angeles that also raised allegations of social media addiction, 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 is going to be a public trial, I’m assuming you’re going to have some high-profile witnesses,” she said. “There are no special privileges — they have to go through that front door.”
The defendants questioned whether certain high-profile witnesses, such as Snap CEO Evan Spiegel or Zuckerberg, are needed to testify, especially after Zuckerberg testified last month in LA trial. The jury in that case has not yet reached a verdict.
Rogers did not rule on the issue, except to say that their testimony may be needed at trial.
Arguments to exclude some expert witnesses took up much of Wednesday’s hearing, with school districts saying they want to introduce evidence that shows behavior similar to vaping or opioid addiction.
District attorneys assured Rogers they would not drop the recent litigation, as Rogers said she was not interested in “adversarial cases” and was “irrelevant” to the social media issue.
“Let me be clear about something,” Rogers said. “Experts are not conduits for gossip.”
The initial multidistrict litigation consolidated hundreds of personal injury lawsuits on behalf of children and teenagers from school districts, local governments and state attorneys general. These plaintiffs allege that Meta’s Facebook and Instagram, Google’s YouTube, ByteDance’s TikTok and Snap’s Snapchat are designed to encourage compulsive use by minors.
In one joint lawsuit filed in late 2023, 33 states alleged that Meta built a business model that maximizes new users’ time on its platforms and uses psychologically manipulative platform features. They accused the tech giant of publishing misleading reports on harm to users and continuing to underestimate the negative consequences of its products.
Jury selection is scheduled to begin on June 12.
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