Trial Opens in Meta Youth Safety Lawsuit
A high-stakes trial pitting a coalition of 29 U.S. states against Meta Platforms got underway Tuesday in Oakland, California, with attorneys for the states alleging that the company’s business model is built around four principles: hook, hold, harvest, and hide. The case, which could reshape how some of the world’s most popular apps operate, centers on claims that Facebook and Instagram were designed to be addictive to children and teens, and that Meta misled consumers about the safety of its platforms.
Megan O’Neill, a lawyer for the state of California, told the eight-person jury that Meta “hooks” in users, “holds” them on its platforms for as long as possible, “harvests” their data, and then “hides” the truth from the public. “Meta’s business model worked especially well for kids,” she said, opening the trial before the Ronald V. Dellums federal building, where a banner with names of young people who died from social media was displayed by Lennon Torres of Heat Initiative.
Attorneys for Colorado, California, New Jersey, and Kentucky are leading the bipartisan group of states. The lawsuit alleges that Meta violated federal child privacy laws and state consumer protection laws by collecting data on children under 13 without parental permission, and by designing its products to keep young users engaged in ways that harm their mental health. The states are seeking damages that could reach as high as $200 billion—an amount equivalent to Meta’s 2025 annual revenue—and are asking the court to force Meta to change its product designs to make them safer for children.
Meta’s Defense
Meta has denied all allegations. Liza Crenshaw, a spokesperson for the company, said the states are chasing an “outlandish payout” rather than sticking to the facts or the law. Meta attorney Paul Schmidt acknowledged that “there’s no dispute” people can struggle with social media, but said the company has “come up with tools to try and address that.”
In its defense, Meta has argued that it has made a “huge effort” to keep kids safe online, has not made misleading statements about safety, and that the states have failed to present evidence of actual harm to their residents. The company also noted that it does not allow children under 13 to register for accounts and has disabled more than 1 million underage accounts.
Advisory Jury and Judge’s Role
The jury in the trial is serving in an advisory capacity, with U.S. District Judge Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers set to make the final decision on the verdict and damages. The trial is expected to last six to eight weeks, and testimony is scheduled to continue next week.
Testimony from Former Employees
The jury has heard from Arturo Béjar, a former Meta safety engineer who worked at the company in two separate stints between 2009 and 2021. Béjar testified that his teenage daughter received unwanted sexual advances and photos of male genitals on Instagram, and that reporting these abuses was either ineffective or not possible. He said he had spoken with Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg more than 100 times during his work, and that in 2021 he sent Zuckerberg an email outlining a survey in which 51% of teen Instagram users reported bad or harmful experiences within the previous seven days, with content being taken down only 0.02% of the time. Béjar testified that Zuckerberg never responded to the email, and he accused Meta of taking a “don’t ask, don’t tell” strategy when it comes to child safety. Meta disputed Béjar’s credibility, saying he overinflated his role at the company and took credit for work he did not do, and previously tried to bar him from testifying; its motions were rejected.
The jury also heard recorded depositions from former Meta user experience researchers Elena Davis and Natalie Troxel. Psychology professor Jean Twenge of San Diego State University briefly took the stand, with further testimony scheduled for next week.
Expert Outlook and Broader Context
Experts have called the trial the biggest test yet of youth social media litigation, coming amid a broader global reckoning over social media’s effects on young users. Meta faces thousands of similar lawsuits brought by families, school districts, and other attorneys general. In March, Meta was ordered to pay nearly $1 billion to the state of New Mexico for allowing child sexual exploitation on its platforms, and in a separate case was found liable for deliberately designing addictive products that hooked one young woman, ordered to pay her more than $4 million.
Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg and Instagram head Adam Mosseri are expected to testify during the trial. Meta has said penalties in the case could be as high as $1.4 trillion, near the company’s market cap of $1.5 trillion.