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Meta faces trial over claims it designed Facebook and Instagram to hook kids
A bipartisan coalition of 29 US states is asking for potentially tens or hundreds of billions of dollars in penalties and mandated business changes, with jurors set to hear claims involving improper collection and use of children’s data.
Meta Platforms is on trial as a bipartisan coalition of 29 US states argues the company designed Facebook and Instagram to keep children hooked, using the apps to drive engagement while allegedly undercutting safety claims, according to a Reuters report via SCMP Economy.
California’s deputy attorney general, Megan O’Neill, told an eight person jury in Oakland, California, that Meta’s business model was to attract users, retain them, harvest their data, and conceal the truth, and that the approach worked especially well for kids.
The states are also accusing Meta of improperly collecting and using children’s personal data while they used the platforms, asserting that violations of federal law are at issue in the trial.
The lawsuit, filed by the four lead states of California, Colorado, Kentucky, and New Jersey, seeks potentially tens or hundreds of billions of dollars in penalties and changes to how Meta does business.