Diana Novak Jones and Jonathan Stempel
Updated August 19, 2026 — 8:29am, first published 3:20am
Meta Platforms has rejected accusations by US states that it intentionally sought to addict children to its Facebook and Instagram platforms in pursuit of profit, at the start of a trial that could reshape some of the most popular apps on the planet.
A bipartisan group of 29 US states is suing Meta, seeking potentially tens or hundreds of billions of dollars in penalties and changes to how Meta does business.
Four lead states – California, Colorado, Kentucky and New Jersey – accuse Meta of designing Facebook and Instagram to hook young users, fuelling anxiety, depression and even suicide, and misleading consumers about the platforms’ safety. All 29 states accused Meta of violating federal law by improperly collecting and using children’s personal data.
Experts have called the trial in the Oakland, California, Federal Court, which began with opening statements on Tuesday (US time), the biggest legal test yet of social media’s impacts on young users.
Meta and other social media companies, including Snapchat, TikTok’s parent ByteDance and YouTube’s parent Alphabet, face thousands of lawsuits from states, municipalities, school districts and individuals over whether their products ha
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