Is social media about to change forever?

**Luke Wilson** (0:01)
It's the trial that could change sites like Facebook and Instagram forever. It's World Business Express from the BBC World Service. I'm Luke Wilson. Talks between the US and Canada to avoid a fresh round of tariffs go down to the wire, and shortages send the price of wool skyrocketing.
In the next hour, opening statements will be made in a courtroom in Oakland, California, which will see a group of US states argue that Facebook and Instagram's parent company, Meta, has deliberately designed its products to be addictive for younger users. The BBC's North America tech correspondent, Lily Jamali, will be in the courtroom.

**Lily Jamali** (0:43)
It's being called the largest consumer protection lawsuit in American history, and stems from a complaint filed in 2023 by a coalition of US states. They allege Meta incorporated harmful features on Instagram and Facebook to drive young user engagement in a bid to boost profits, and then misled the public about it. Meta denies the allegations. It said it stood by its record of creating strong protections for teens and looked forward to making its case in court. A jury will hear testimony for the next six weeks, including potentially from Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg.
Jury members will deliver an advisory verdict, but the final outcome will rest with a federal judge who will consider their decision.
The trial comes after some high-profile legal losses in similar cases. If Meta loses, the tech giant could face significant fines and be asked to make fundamental changes to the way young people experience social media, including ending like counts and infinite scroll.

**Luke Wilson** (1:40)
Are we likely to see those fundamental changes? Earlier, I spoke to Matt Navarro, a social media consultant who's worked with tech giants including Google and Meta.

**Matt Navarro** (1:49)
This is a very big deal, potentially one of the most consequential legal test metas faced over design of its products ever, really. I think what's different here is that this isn't simply about Meta failing to remove a particular piece of harmful content.
The states are effectively saying that some of the design mechanics themselves, things like infinite scroll, notifications, recommendations, they've been deliberately designed to maximize engagement in a way that's harmful to children. So the bigger question being tested is whether Meta can actually be held legally responsible for how Instagram and Facebook are designed. And if the states succeed, the implications potentially go far beyond Meta because many of those mechanics are fundamental to TikTok, YouTube, Snapchat and other platforms.

**Luke Wilson** (2:34)
The states want to see changes to how these sites work. How likely do you think that is and how easy is that for a company like Meta?

**Matt Navarro** (2:42)
There's a spectrum. At the more realistic end, we could see much stronger age verification, which we've already started seeing being introduced around the world anyway.
Tighter controls over notifications, more parental controls, more usage limits, and even more restrictive experiences specifically for teens. I think at the more dramatic end, the states want changes to things like infinite scroll and the recommendation algorithms themselves, which potentially forces Meta to prioritize well-being over engagement in some circumstances. But I think those are more fundamental changes are less certain. The biggest consequence for Meta may not be the financial penalties, but the possibility of courts and regulators increasingly having to say in how Meta designs its products. You know, a fine hurts Meta once, but being told how it can design Instagram could affect Meta every single day. And Meta won't be the only company watching, because every social platform will be looking at what happens here.

**Luke Wilson** (3:34)
Social media consultant Matt Navarro.
Canada's Prime Minister Mark Carney has described negotiations over a new round of US tariffs on his country as very delicate and intense. 50% tariffs on $20 billion worth of Canadian imports, including alcohol and dairy products, will come into effect in just over 12 hours' time without a deal. The US says it wants Canada to remove retaliatory tariffs on cars and lift a ban on American alcohol sales that was put in place last year by most Canadian provinces. Dan Kelly is president and CEO of the Canadian Federation of Independent Business.

**Dan Kelly** (4:11)
To this point, most Canadian trade has remained tariff-free, despite the sectoral tariffs that have been in place on a few items. But this is right smack in the middle of the trade deal. These are goods that have to this point been complying with the agreement between Canada and the US. But this is a huge swath of small business products. I've heard from jewelry store owners that ship goods into the United States, art shops that sell some of their products into the US.