Pair of attorneys from Churches of Christ challenge Zuckerberg in social media case

Mark Lanier stood on the steps of a Los Angeles courthouse and prayed, surrounded by families who say their children have suffered grave harm as a result of social media. 

That same day, Lanier confronted Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg with a quote from a 2018 internal presentation at Instagram, which Meta owns: “If we want to win big with teens, we must bring them in as tweens.”

“And yet you say that we would never do that,” Lanier said.

Lanier, who grew up in the pews of the Broadway Church of Christ in Lubbock, Texas, is at the center of a landmark case alleging that websites and apps such as Instagram and Facebook are addictive and harmful for young users, especially teens. The trial in California Superior Court, Los Angeles County, is a test case for thousands more.

The plaintiff is a 19-year-old California woman, identified as K.G.M., who says she became addicted to the companies’ platforms at a young age because of their attention-grabbing design, Reuters reports. Lanier, a renowned trial lawyer, author and preacher, represents K.G.M., who alleges social media apps fueled her depression and suicidal thoughts. Her case is part of a consolidated group of cases representing thousands of plaintiffs, collectively known as JCCP 5255.

Lanier, lead trial counsel for K.G.M.’s legal team, is one of at least two attorneys with ties to Churches of Christ representing the plaintiff. Co-lead counsel Joseph VanZandt of the Beasley Allen Law Firm is a deacon of the University Church of Christ in Montgomery, Ala.

Mark Lanier

Lanier earned an undergraduate degree in Bible from Lipscomb University in Nashville, Tenn., which is associated with Churches of Christ. Among his mentors were scholars of ancient language Clyde Miller, Rodney Cloud and Harvey Floyd.

“I wanted to either preach or be a lawyer,” Lanier said in a 2020 interview with The Christian Chronicle. Law school, he decided, would allow him to do both. He returned to Lubbock and earned his juris doctorate from Texas Tech. 

As a trial attorney, he built a reputation as a zealous advocate for clients in personal injury and product liability cases. In 1990 he founded the Lanier Law Firm, which has offices in Houston, New York and Los Angeles. He also founded the Christian Trial Lawyers Association and serves on Lipscomb’s board of trustees.

He founded the Lanier Theological Library, a 17,000-square-foot research facility in Houston containing more than 100,000 volumes on subjects from biblical archaeology to linguistics. The library’s learning center, completed in 2023, has hosted the Thomas H. Olbricht Christian Scholars’ Conference, an annual gathering of academics including Bible faculty from universities associated with Churches of Christ.

Attendees of the Christian Scholars’ Conference mingle at the Lanier Theological Library in 2023.

VanZandt earned undergraduate and law degrees from Faulkner University in Montgomery, which also is associated with Churches of Christ. He serves on the board of directors of Agape of Central Alabama and Alabama Christian Academy. He played a lead role in his congregation’s involvement with mission work in the South American nation of Guyana, said Scott Latham, an elder of the University church.

Joseph VanZandt

“This is going to be one of the most impactful litigations of our lifetime,” VanZandt, said last year, according to a report in Claims Journal. “This is about large corporations targeting vulnerable populations — children — for profit. That’s what we saw with the tobacco companies; they were also targeting adolescents and trying to get them addicted while they were young.”

In a recent interview with CNN, Lanier compared the addictive properties of social media apps to those of cigarettes and opiates.

“The companies did this, and they did this for money,” Lanier said of Meta and other tech giants. “That’s our allegation.”

Attorneys for Meta argue that the social media apps have guardrails in place to prevent young children from creating accounts or accessing sensitive information.

In a clip from “TODAY,” Mark Lanier prays on the steps of a Los Angeles courtroom with families who say that social media has harmed or contributed to the deaths of their children.

A statement posted on Meta’s website reads: “Despite the snippets of conversations or cherry-picked quotes that plaintiffs’ counsel may use to paint an intentionally misleading picture of the company, we’re proud of the progress we’ve made, we stand by our record of putting teen safety first, and we’ll keep making improvements.”

The trial is expected to last about six weeks. 

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