Meta is heading to court in a case brought by a group of state attorneys general who allege the company designed its social media platforms to be addictive and misled the public about the risks.

Opening statements are expected to begin Tuesday in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California in Oakland after jury selection concluded last week and Judge Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers rejected Meta's request to dismiss the case. The trial is expected to last four to six weeks, and Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg is expected to testify.

Attorneys general from California, Colorado, Kentucky and New Jersey filed the lawsuit in 2023 after a multistate investigation into the effects of Facebook and Instagram on young users. They contend the platforms were built to be addictive, that Meta downplayed the potential impact on young people and that the company violated federal law by collecting personal information from children.

Meta, the parent company of Facebook and Instagram, denies wrongdoing and disputes the states' claims that its platforms caused the alleged harm. The company also says that "social media addiction" is not an officially recognized psychiatric diagnosis, a point that is expected to be central at trial. The case has drawn attention because it could test how far state consumer-protection laws can go when regulators argue that product design and public messaging harmed minors, a question that has implications beyond Meta as lawmakers and courts examine youth safety online.

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California Attorney General Rob Bonta said in a statement last week after the court allowed the case to proceed: "Meta designed a dangerous product for young users, knew it to be dangerous, and then lied to children, families, and the community about how dangerous it was."

A Meta spokesperson rejected the states' claims in a statement to FOX Business, saying the "limited claims are unsubstantiated and their financial demands are vastly disproportionate."

"The AGs offer no proof anyone in their states was misled, claim benign features like having an additional Instagram account somehow harmed their residents, and attempt to penalize Meta for industry-wide challenges like age verification. Rather than sticking to the facts or the law, the states have instead decided to chase an outlandish payout," the spokesperson said, adding that the company stands by its "record of creating strong protections for teens, and look forward to making our case in court."

Meta has said the damages sought by the attorneys general could reach $1.4 trillion, a figure it says is nearly equal to the company's market capitalization. The attorneys general told the judge this month that $200 billion was a more realistic target, which would still make it one of the largest consumer-protection judgments in U.S. history.

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Monte Mann, a partner at Armstrong Teasdale, told FOX Business in an interview that the case will be a "bellwether case" for the theory that social media platforms were designed to be addictive and harmful to young users.

Mann said he will be watching closely for what internal Meta documents show about the company's knowledge of the products' allegedly compulsive nature and mental health effects, calling those materials "may be the star witness in the case."

"I will be very interested to see what the internal Meta, Facebook, Instagram documents say about what they knew of the compulsive nature of these products and services; when they knew it; whether they tried to enhance their design elements to take advantage of those things, what they disclosed to the public," he said.

Mann also noted that Judge Gonzalez Rogers appointed an advisory jury in the case, which can provide feedback and recommendations on community standards for children's use of social media that she may consider.

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The Oakland trial is the latest high-profile case involving Meta and other social media companies, which have faced numerous lawsuits from individuals, school districts and state governments over the alleged effects of social media use on children. Those disputes have increasingly centered on what companies knew about youth engagement features, what they disclosed publicly and whether existing laws are enough to address harms alleged by states and families.

Earlier this month, a New Mexico state court ordered Meta to pay $567 million and overhaul its protections for teen users on Facebook and Instagram. That ruling followed a March decision ordering Meta to pay $375 million for violating state law, bringing the company's total liability in that case to nearly $942 million.

Meta told FOX Business after the latest ruling that it disagreed with the decision and planned to appeal, saying the company is "confident in our record of protecting teens online and will continue to defend ourselves against claims that misrepresent the facts."

FOX Business' Michael Sinkewicz, Sumner Park, Ashley Webster and Reuters contributed to this report.