Meta faces high-stakes kids' safety trial

Meta is back in court — but this time for a high-stakes child safety trial that, more than any past case, poses potentially massive risks for its future. The challenge, brought by 29 states, argues that Meta designed Instagram and Facebook to hook kids and teens — despite knowing it would lead to health concerns like anxiety, depression and eating disorders — and then downplayed those harms in public. Opening arguments began Tuesday. Their case is one of hundreds of lawsuits accusing Meta, Google, Snap and TikTok of intentionally crafting platforms to get kids addicted. But unlike previous cases, state prosecutors are seeking penalties of potentially hundreds of billions of dollars. If the states win, they’ll have a rare chance to force sweeping design changes to Instagram and Facebook that could decrease kids’ time spent on social media — and, by extension, eat into Meta’s lucrative ad revenue. Read more on the landmark trial’s implications and our coverage of opening arguments: https://politi.co/4giU0yF ----------------------------------------- Subscribe to our channel! https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCgjtvMmHXbutALaw9XzRkAg?view_as=subscriber Check out our video catalog: https://www.politico.com/video Follow POLITICO here: ➤ X: https://x.com/politico/ ➤ Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/politico/ ➤ Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/politico/