The case against Meta Platforms brought in 2026 by the state attorneys general of California, Kentucky, Colorado and New Jersey, explored whether Meta violated state consumer protection laws and the federal Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act of 1998, commonly known as COPPA, by knowingly making its platforms addictive and going after young users. The trial, that was to take place at a federal courthouse in Oakland, Calif., had come on the heels of Meta’s nearly $1 billion loss in New Mexico state court.  As part of remedies for the New Mexico trial, a judge ordered Meta to create a $567 million abatement fund and to limit the amount of time that young people can spend on its apps. The company must turn off push notifications on teens’ accounts overnight and by default hide the number of “likes” on photos, the judge said in his order.

“What you’re going to hear in this trial is how Meta hooked children on its platforms,” Megan O’Neill, a deputy attorney general for the California Department of Justice, said during opening arguments in the Oakland case.  O’Neill previewed some of Meta’s internal documents. One of them was a conversation between two Meta employees, in which one said: “oh my gosh y’all Instagram is a drug.” The co-worker responded: “Lol, I mean, all social media. We’re basically pushers.” Another was an internal document in which Meta said its product “exploits weaknesses in the human psychology.”

In August 2026, Meta reached a settlement with the state attorneys general agreeing to pay up to $17.1 billion and overhaul child safety features on Facebook and Instagram. Meta still faces lawsuits from individuals and school districts. According to Market Watch, Meta, thus, dodged the ‘Big Tobacco’ nightmare, the $400 billion in damages tobacco companies had to pay over the span of 25 years for the addictive properties of their products.

Excerpt from Meghan Bobrowsky, Pivotal Child Safety Trial That Could Change Instagram Starts in California, WSJ, Aug. 18, 2026