A landmark trial against Meta began in federal court in Oakland, California, with four states—California, Colorado, Kentucky, and New Jersey—challenging the company over child safety and privacy practices. The case is expected to last approximately six weeks, with 25 additional states set to pursue separate litigation later.
Arturo Béjar, a former engineering director at Meta who previously testified before Congress, provided testimony indicating the company consistently prioritized engagement metrics over user well-being when developing products. He characterized Instagram’s approach to younger users as a “don’t ask, don’t tell” policy. Béjar stated that employee performance evaluations and compensation structures focused primarily on user retention and engagement duration, positioning safety considerations as secondary. He noted that video autoplay features and various engagement counters tracking likes, views, and follower counts were designed with adult users in mind and presented inherent risks to teenage users, who developmental experts indicate are more susceptible to social comparison effects.
The lawsuit contends Meta knowingly designed addictive features and concealed their harmful effects on youth mental health. Additionally, the states allege the company collected data on children under 13 without parental consent, violating federal privacy law. Béjar testified that despite Meta’s sophisticated infrastructure for detecting fraudulent accounts, the company lacked specific objectives or metrics to identify and verify the ages of users suspected of being under 13. He found “tens of thousands” of underage users on Instagram through his own research, describing such underage presence as common knowledge within the company.
Bejar criticized safety features Meta introduced, including one called “Take a Break,” characterizing it as “designed to fail” because it requires manual activation and can be easily dismissed. He argued that effective safety tools must be enabled by default rather than requiring user action. Meta has rejected all allegations and stated it maintains responsibility toward teen safety and parental partnership. The plaintiffs are seeking injunctions to alter user experiences on Facebook and Instagram, along with financial damages potentially amounting to billions of dollars.
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