On August 18, 2026, hearings began in the Oakland court (Northern District of California) in the case against Meta* — the extremist company is accused of intentionally designing features of Facebook and Instagram that encouraged teenagers and children to overuse the platforms, concealing known risks to minors' mental health, and collecting personal data from children under 13 without parental consent. The lawsuit was filed by a coalition of 29 states, with California, Colorado, Kentucky, and New Jersey acting as lead plaintiffs. According to the plaintiffs, Meta's actions violate the federal Children's Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA) and state consumer protection laws.
Positions of the Parties
California Attorney General Rob Bonta stated on August 17: "Meta designed Facebook and Instagram to keep children on the platforms as long as possible — to the point of causing physical and mental harm. Exploiting the most vulnerable users for corporate profit is not only immoral but illegal." Similar statements were made by Colorado Attorney General Phil Weiser, Kentucky Attorney General Russell Coleman, and New Jersey Attorney General Jennifer Davenport.
In court filings, Meta indicated that the plaintiffs' calculations could theoretically lead to penalties of up to $1.4 trillion. Bonta clarified on August 18 that the states are not demanding this exact sum: "To be clear: we are not seeking $1.4 trillion." According to him, this is a maximum theoretical estimate based on the number of young platform users, and the actual amount of fines will be determined by the court.
Plaintiffs' Demands
In addition to compensation, the plaintiffs are seeking court injunctions, including:
removal of features that encourage prolonged platform use — such as infinite scroll, visible 'likes,' and recommendation algorithms;
implementation of usage time limits for minors;
deletion of data belonging to children under 13.
Meta's Position
The company denies the allegations. Meta states that the evidence will show its long-term commitment to supporting young users, and that research does not confirm a direct link between social media use and a decline in teen well-being.
Course of the Proceedings
The case is being presided over by Judge Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers; the jury plays an advisory role, with the final decision resting with the judge. The trial is scheduled to last 6–8 weeks. Former company employee Arturo Béjar has already testified, speaking about Meta's internal culture and research on harm to teenagers. Testimony from Instagram head Adam Mosseri and other current and former company employees is expected; the question of calling Mark Zuckerberg to testify remains open.
The Oakland trial has become one of the largest proceedings against Meta concerning child protection on social media. The outcome will influence how technology companies structure their engagement with underage users and handle their data.
Judge Gonzalez Rogers' decision could set a precedent for similar lawsuits against other platforms, as COPPA and state consumer protection laws remain key tools for regulating the collection of children's data.
AI Opinion
Analysis shows that the case against Meta fits into a broader wave of legal claims against technology companies for their impact on minors' mental health. Concurrently with the Oakland proceedings, OpenAI recently released a separate version of ChatGPT for teenagers amidst lawsuits where plaintiffs link the deaths of minors to a lack of protective mechanisms in chatbots. This coincidence suggests that regulatory pressure is shifting from the question of "what social networks publish" to "how algorithms and AI systems shape a child's behavior" — the COPPA law, enacted in 1998 for static web pages, is being tested against generative and recommendation systems of a completely different scale.
The financial aspect of the case rarely makes headlines: even partial satisfaction of the claims could change the architecture of recommendation feeds not only at Meta but also at its competitors, who follow its product decisions. Will the liability of technology companies remain limited to social networks, or will the next wave of lawsuits target AI assistants and gaming platforms?
*Meta, the owner of Facebook and Instagram, is recognized as an extremist organization and is banned in Russia.
