Casablanca – Meta is facing a major US trial over allegations that it knowingly designed Facebook and Instagram to keep children and teenagers engaged while failing to adequately protect users under 13.
The case was brought by 29 US states, including California and New York, which accuse Meta of violating federal and state privacy laws. Four states, California, Colorado, Kentucky and New Jersey, are leading the trial in federal court in Oakland. The states are seeking billions of dollars and changes to features including infinite scroll and like counts. The claims could expose Meta to penalties of up to $1.4 trillion.
During opening arguments, California attorney Megan O’Neill told jurors that Meta knew millions of 11- and 12-year-olds were using Instagram and did little to keep them off the platform. Meta disputed that figure, saying its records showed just over 100,000 users in that age group.
The issue of children under 13 is central to the case. Instagram and Facebook officially require users to be at least 13. Meta has said it uses several methods to identify and remove younger users, but the states argue those measures have not been effective.
Court filings from the broader case have previously cited Meta estimates of about 4 million Instagram users under 13. They also referred to internal charts tracking Instagram use among 11- and 12-year-olds and data from age-estimation systems that allegedly identified millions of accounts belonging to children under 13.
Read also: Meta Faces $1.4 Trillion Youth Safety Trial Over Facebook, Instagram
The platforms are used on a massive scale. Meta said its family of apps, which includes Facebook, Instagram, Messenger and WhatsApp, had 3.60 billion daily active people on average in June 2026. Meta stopped reporting individual Facebook user numbers, so there is no current official figure for Facebook alone. Instagram, meanwhile, said in September 2025 that it had reached 3 billion monthly active users.
O’Neill relied on internal research that included a finding that one in five teens said Instagram made them feel worse. Another Meta document said features designed to increase time spent on its platforms could conflict with users’ well-being.
Meta attorney Paul Schmidt acknowledged the negative finding but pointed to the same research showing 41% of teens said Instagram made them feel better, and another 41% said it had no effect.
Meta also rejects the argument that its platforms are addictive. Schmidt said there is no established research showing that social media addiction exists, while acknowledging that some people struggle with their use of social media. Meta has also pointed to safety tools and its ongoing efforts to remove underage accounts.
The trial is expected to last about six weeks, with Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg among the executives expected to testify.
