Meta settles federal social media addiction trial with California AG, others

Meta has settled a federal trial with a coalition of state attorneys general over allegations that the social media giant misrepresented the extent of child-related mental health harms. According to CNBC Technology, the trial centered on claims that Meta deliberately designed Facebook and Instagram to addict teens.

The case, brought by 29 states, alleged violations of state consumer protection and federal privacy laws, which carry significant fines. Meta denied the allegations, accusing the attorneys general of seeking unreasonable design changes and an "outlandish payout." Bloomberg News reported that Meta and the state attorneys general had discussed a potential mid-trial settlement.

Meta's CEO, Mark Zuckerberg, was not mentioned as having testified, but Instagram's CEO, Adam Mosseri, did testify, disputing allegations that his company hid negative information from the public. Mosseri, the first top executive from Meta to testify, was questioned about not disclosing low user numbers for Instagram's features geared toward teen safety.

Brief written by urgent.news from CNBC Technology, The Business Times - Companies & Markets, Economic Times Tech, Guardian Technology — 4 reports on this story. Machine-written — may contain errors; check the original before relying on it.