Meta child-safety trial opens in Oakland with penalties up to $200 billion
What's next: A federal judge, not the advisory jury, will decide whether Meta broke child-privacy and consumer laws.
A high-stakes federal trial against Meta opened Tuesday in Oakland, where attorneys general from California, Colorado, Kentucky and New Jersey accused the company of building Facebook and Instagram to keep children hooked and of downplaying the risks. The states also allege Meta collected data from users under 13 without parental consent, violating COPPA. California Attorney General Rob Bonta said the case is about civil penalties and restitution, and that the states are not seeking the $1.4 trillion figure Meta has cited; he said about $200 billion is a more likely amount. U.S. District Judge Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers will decide the case after a six- to seven-week trial, with an advisory jury hearing the evidence.