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Feb. 6, 2026

Meta must strip inactive accounts from usage metrics, judge rules

U.S. Magistrate Judge Peter Kang ruled Meta inflated its defense in the social media addiction MDL by counting dormant accounts in average time-on-app figures. The company must reproduce the data with a far tighter margin of error, handing plaintiffs more precise metrics for damages and causation arguments.

Meta must remove inactive accounts from its calculations of how much time the average user spends on its apps in the multidistrict litigation over teen social media addiction, U.S. Magistrate Judge Peter H. Kang ruled Wednesday.

Plaintiffs, represented by Daniel I. Keiser of the Kentucky Attorney General's Office, said Meta "misrepresented the data" to suggest users spend less time on Facebook and Instagram than they actually do, bolstering the company's argument...

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