On August 18, Meta Platforms, Inc. declined over 4% in regular trading. The stock came under heavy selling pressure as a landmark federal lawsuit brought by 29 US states formally went to trial.

The lawsuit accuses Meta of deploying features such as infinite scrolling and recommendation algorithms on Facebook and Instagram to deliberately addict teenagers, thereby exacerbating a youth mental health crisis. Plaintiffs are seeking up to $1.4 trillion in penalties — a sum nearly equivalent to the company's entire market capitalization. Meta has firmly denied wrongdoing, though it was previously ordered to pay $567 million in a related New Mexico state case. Separately, Meta's $14 billion Texas data center joint venture with BlackRock faces billions of dollars in potential uninsured losses due to partial insurance coverage, adding further pressure. The convergence of multiple legal risks weighed on market sentiment.

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