WASHINGTON (Dispatches) -- Meta Platforms is facing one of its most consequential legal battles as 29 U.S. states accuse the company of deliberately designing Facebook and Instagram to addict children, exploit their data and conceal the risks its platforms pose to young users.
The landmark trial opened Tuesday in federal court in Oakland, California, where prosecutors argued that Meta prioritized profits and user engagement over children’s safety. The states are seeking potentially hundreds of billions of dollars in penalties and sweeping changes to the way the company operates its platforms.
California, Colorado, Kentucky and New Jersey, leading the case, accuse Meta of engineering its products to keep young users online for as long as possible, contributing to anxiety, depression and suicide, while misleading parents and the public about the safety of its services. All 29 states also allege that Meta illegally collected and used children’s personal information.
“Meta’s business model was to hook the users, hold them for as long as they can, harvest their data, and then hide the truth from the public,” California Deputy Attorney General Megan O’Neill told jurors. “It worked especially well for kids.”
The states are seeking changes to Facebook and Instagram, including eliminating features such as likes and infinite scrolling, imposing time limits on younger users and enforcing restrictions designed to keep children under 13 off the platforms.
Meta has denied deliberately harming children, arguing that research does not establish a clear link between adolescent social media use and poor well-being. Its lawyer Paul Schmidt acknowledged that some users struggle but insisted the company wants its services to be safe and useful.
Former Meta safety engineer Arturo Bejar, however, testified as the states’ first witness, saying the company knew its child-safety systems were inadequate. Bejar told jurors that Meta adopted a “don’t ask, don’t tell” approach to monitoring whether children under 13 were using its platforms and that safety was not sufficiently considered when products such as Instagram Reels were launched.
He also described a corporate culture shaped by the “move fast and break things” mentality, suggesting that rapid expansion and engagement took precedence over safeguarding young users.
The case could carry extraordinary financial consequences. Meta has said the states could seek as much as $1.4 trillion in penalties, while attorneys general have estimated the figure at closer to $200 billion.
The trial is expected to last six weeks, with CEO Mark Zuckerberg and Instagram chief Adam Mosseri among those expected to testify. The proceedings could ultimately force Meta to overhaul some of the world’s most widely used social media platforms.