The potential harms of social media are in the spotlight with a federal trial against Meta now underway. The company stands accused of purposely designing its platforms to be addictive, harming the mental health of young people, as well as collecting data in violation of the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA).

Alexis Shore Ingber, a communications law professor in the Newhouse School of Public Communications, says the outcome of this trial will hinge on the interpretation of a 1996 law.

“A big question here is going to be if Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act will shield platforms for liability over their addictive design features,” Ingber says. “In other words, is design a form of speech for which platforms are shielded from liability?”

A Meta spokesperson denied the allegations in a statement, arguing that it has created strong protections for teens. But Ingber believes that Meta won’t be able to buy its way out of legal liability in this case, and that there will be consequences for other companies as well.

“I think that the negative harms are so clear and companies are going to have to be held responsible legally,” Ingber says. “There will also be implications of this case on how much data platforms should be allowed to collect to support their algorithms that reel in users. I think the case results may challenge these companies’ entire business models.”