A trial began in Oakland, California, where a coalition of 29 U.S. states is suing Meta over allegations that it designed Instagram and Facebook to be addictive to young users and mishandled children’s personal data. Lead plaintiffs California, Colorado, Kentucky, and New Jersey are seeking penalties that could reach hundreds of billions of dollars along with product changes such as removing likes, ending infinite scroll, and enforcing stricter age verification. Meta has set aside $2.4 billion for legal costs and denies wrongdoing, after already paying $942 million to settle a similar case in New Mexico.
