Meta trial begins in California over alleged child-addictive design and data harvesting

A landmark trial against Meta Platforms, the parent company of Facebook and Instagram, opened Tuesday in a California federal court, with a bipartisan coalition of 29 states alleging the tech giant deliberately designed its platforms to addict children and illegally harvested their data. The case, overseen by U.S. District Judge Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers in Oakland, represents a significant escalation in legal efforts to hold social media companies accountable for their impact on youth mental health.

The states, led by California, Colorado, Kentucky, and New Jersey, delivered opening statements arguing that features like infinite scroll and persistent notifications were engineered to maximize engagement, particularly among minors. Deputy California Attorney General Megan O'Neill told the court Meta designed its products to "hook the users, hold them for as long as they can, harvest their data, and then hide the truth from the public," adding that this approach "worked especially well for kids." The coalition contends these practices violated state consumer protection laws and the federal Children's Online Privacy Protection Act by collecting children's data without parental consent.