States take Meta to trial in California in the biggest fight yet over social media harms to children

A coalition of 29 US states (led by California, Colorado, Kentucky and New Jersey, representing nearly two-thirds of the US population) took Meta to trial in Oakland, California starting August 19, in what officials called the largest consumer-protection lawsuit in American history, seeking potentially hundreds of billions of dollars and structural changes to Instagram and Facebook -- including eliminating "like" counts, infinite scroll and other engagement-driving features for minors -- over claims Meta knowingly designed its platforms to be addictive to children while publicly denying the harm. California's lead attorney told jurors 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," citing internal Meta research (from over 2 million documents produced in discovery) describing teens' "addict's narrative" and finding features designed to boost time-on-app were "inherently at odds with well-being." Meta's defense argued social-media addiction has no scientific basis, disputed the states' user-count estimates, and noted its own research found roughly as many teens reported Instagram made them feel better as those who said it made them feel worse.

The case followed a March ruling in a separate New Mexico lawsuit in which a judge fined Meta $942 million combined, ordered similar platform changes, and for the first time declared a social media company a "public nuisance." Rather than face weeks of trial testimony (including from CEO Mark Zuckerberg, who never took the stand), Meta agreed on August 27 to an $18 billion settlement with the 29 states -- far below the theoretical $1.4 trillion maximum penalty cited during the trial -- while admitting no wrongdoing. Under the settlement, Meta committed to a default two-hour daily time limit across Instagram and Facebook for known teen users (excluding direct messaging), muting notifications overnight and during school hours, and hiding all likes on posts and content for teen accounts, with most changes to roll out within six months; commentators framed the deal as a bid to protect Meta's core advertising business while limiting the risk of a much larger judgment.