Meta 'hid the truth' over child safety, court hears, as social media trial begins

JUST IN: Landmark child-safety trial against Meta begins, with US states alleging the company 'hid the truth' and 'exploited how kids' brains work' to make Instagram and Facebook addictive.

Meta hid the truth about child safety. That's the accusation, in open court, from US states as of today.

A landmark trial has begun, and the language from the states is blunt. They say Meta exploited how kids' brains work, deliberately, to make Instagram and Facebook addictive. Not an accident of design. A strategy. That's the claim the company now has to answer under oath, with discovery, with internal documents on the record.

This lands squarely on Mark Zuckerberg's desk. His company has weathered congressional hearings and fines before, but a trial is different. Witnesses get cross examined. Emails get read aloud. Whatever Meta knew about young users, and when it knew it, is about to become public in a way no press release can manage.

Big Tobacco lost the moment its own memos hit a courtroom. Meta's memos are next.

This is Liu Yang, reporting for HIT.

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