Meta hooked children on Facebook and Instagram, US court hears

A court has heard claims Meta intentionally hooked a generation of children on Facebook and Instagram, as the biggest legal challenge faced by the social media platform began.

A jury in Oakland, California will spend the next six weeks wading through claims by top attorneys from several US states and lawyers for the social media company.

A lawyer for California claimed Meta found "millions" of 11 and 12-year-olds were on Instagram and "did little to keep them off" as the trial opened on Tuesday.

Meta's representative said just over 100,000 such users were found, and argued that social media addiction does not exist.

California's lawyer said Meta knew its platforms hurt teen mental health, while Meta said it was being ignored how many more teens had good experiences.

The trial stems from a lawsuit filed in 2023 by 29 US states, including California and New York. They claim there have been numerous violations of federal and state privacy laws for children.

The states seeking billions of dollars from Meta and are demanding it make changes to Instagram and Facebook, including ending "like" counts and infinite scroll.

In her opening arguments Megan O'Neill, a lead attorney for California, relied heavily on information found in millions of documents provided in the case from Meta. They included internal research, employee emails, and chat logs that went all the way up to Zuckerberg.

One piece of internal research on Instagram stated: "Teens have an addict's narrative about use."

In another that O'Neill pointed the jury to, Meta found "product features designed to increase time spent are inherently at odds with well-being and take away from people's ability to focus on activity that adds value to their lives".

Despite Meta's awareness of potentially negative impacts, O'Neill argued that Meta targeted young people as users of Facebook and Instagram. Meta, she said, went out of its way to "assure the public that its platforms were safe for kids".

O'Neill outlined to the jury how Meta's business model could be summed up. "Hook the users; hold them for as long as they can; harvest their data; hide the truth from the public when making public statements," she said.