Meta Platforms is on trial in a landmark federal case, with 29 U.S. states accusing the company of deliberately designing Facebook and Instagram to be addictive to children and misleading the public about platform safety.
As the trial begins, the California Deputy Attorney General Megan O’Neill told an eight-person jury in his opening statements that Meta’s business model was “to hook the users, hold them for as long as they can, harvest their data, and hide the truth from the public.”
“It worked especially well for kids,” O’Neill said, arguing that Meta exploited children’s developing brains to maximise engagement and profits. She cited an internal report named “The Young Ones are the Best Ones,” indicating the company viewed younger users as particularly valuable.
This coalition consists of four leading states – California, Colorado, Kentucky and New Jersey- representing a bipartisan group of 29 states. They have accused Meta of breaking federal law regarding children’s privacy and state consumer protection law by creating anxiety, depression, and even suicides among its young users.
These states are seeking $200 billion in fines, which would be equal to about three years of after-tax earnings for Meta, and are changing the features of their platforms, such as infinite scroll, autoplay, and beauty filters, for people under the age of 18.
Firing back, Meta attorney Paul Schmidt countered that the company has implemented safeguards to protect young users, including removing 600,000 accounts made by children under 13 in the past three months alone.
The trial is supposed to run for about six to eight weeks and will see testimony from Mark Zuckerberg, Meta’s CEO, and Adam Mosseri, the head of Instagram.
This is the first federal bellwether case among thousands filed against Meta and other social media platforms over harm to youth.
2026-08-19 00:44:00
