Meta went on trial in Oakland on Tuesday against 29 states that accuse it of building Instagram and Facebook to hook children and hiding what it knew about the damage. California, Colorado, Kentucky, and New Jersey are running the case, and they’re after more than money, asking Judge Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers to strip likes and infinite scroll from both apps, cap screen time for younger users, and make Meta enforce its own ban on under-13 accounts. Rogers decides all of that alone, since the eight-person jury only returns an advisory verdict, and she sets the penalty as well. Meta says the penalty could reach $1.4T, close to its market value, while the states figure closer to $200B. Zuckerberg and Instagram head Adam Mosseri are both due to testify during the six-week trial.
