Overview
- The federal trial, which began Aug. 18, opened in Oakland with opening statements and the states presenting former Meta safety engineer Arturo Béjar as their first witness.
- The 29-state coalition accuses Meta of designing features such as infinite scroll, autoplay, visible like counts and beauty filters to maximize youth engagement and of unlawfully collecting minors' data.
- Plaintiffs are seeking structural remedies including stricter age controls, deletion of data and models trained on children’s information, and removal or limits on engagement-driving features, while also pressing for large civil penalties.
- Meta denies intentional design to addict children, points to safety tools like Teen Accounts and messaging limits, and argues the states have not proven that platform use caused widespread mental-health harm.
- The case is a bellwether in a wider wave of youth-safety litigation after recent state losses for Meta and a Ninth Circuit decision on Aug. 10 that let thousands of consolidated federal claims proceed, so a ruling against Meta could reshape product design and regulation across the tech industry.