Updated at 4:45 p.m.
The Vermont Supreme Court ruled Friday that the state has jurisdiction to pursue a case against Meta for targeting teen users of its subsidiary Instagram, upholding a lower court decision.
The state’s suit, filed by Vermont Attorney General Charity Clark in October 2023, alleged the tech giant had engaged in unfair and immoral practices in Vermont, and violated the Vermont Consumer Protection Act by knowingly misrepresenting its platform’s potential to cause harm to young consumers.
On Friday, the state Supreme Court ruled in favor of the state regarding the issue of jurisdiction.
“A company that reaches out and purposefully avails itself of a forum state’s market for its own economic gain can expect to be hauled into court in that jurisdiction to account for its conduct,” Friday’s decision states.
“We are pleased with the Court’s decision, which allows our lawsuit against Meta to proceed in Vermont, where it belongs,” Clark wrote in a statement to VTDigger Friday.
“This is an important step in our effort to hold Meta accountable,” the statement continued. “Our children deserve better, and my office will proudly take this case to trial to protect Vermont’s kids — the future of our state.”
Meta, for its part, has argued the state lacks jurisdiction for its complaint, and that the company’s online contacts with the state were not made in or aimed at Vermont in particular. The company’s motion to dismiss the case in superior court on those grounds was denied on July 28, 2024, and Meta appealed that decision to the Vermont Supreme Court.
Meta did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
The original suit, which the Vermont Supreme Court did not weigh in on, alleged the company “intentionally designed Instagram to be addictive to teens, that Meta did so to increase advertisement revenue despite knowing the resulting negative effects on teens, and that Meta failed to take meaningful action to mitigate these harms while both actively minimizing and withholding its relevant internal research findings to maintain teens’ engagement with the application” according to Friday’s decision.
Clark sought a permanent injunction against the company in Vermont, prohibiting it from engaging in deceptive practices. The lawsuit also asked for $10,000 in civil penalties for each violation of the Vermont Consumer Protection Act, with violations defined as “each instance in which a Young Person accessed the Instagram platform in the State of Vermont.”
The state’s 2023 complaint cited internal Meta documents in its allegation that the company studied Vermont teenagers in an effort to increase their engagement with the platform. Clark filed the lawsuit in coordination with over 40 other attorneys general who sued Meta the same day in state or federal courts.
“We are suing to hold these corporations accountable for Instagram’s contribution to the mental health crisis that is gripping teens across the country,” Clark said at the time it was filed.
