Arturo Bejar, a former Facebook engineering director, resumed testimony Wednesday in an Oakland, California federal trial concerning Meta Platforms' impact on young users. The trial centers on a lawsuit brought by a coalition of states that alleges the company designed its social media platforms to be addictive and failed to address internal research regarding risks to children and teenagers.
The legal proceedings involve claims from 29 states asserting that Meta, the parent company of Instagram and Facebook, illegally collected data from users under the age of 13 and misled the public about platform safety. Meta has denied the allegations, stating it stands by its efforts to protect teens and arguing that Bejar's opinions fall outside the scope of his professional duties at the company.
Bejar, who previously testified before a U.S. Senate committee in 2023, told jurors on Tuesday that Meta's internal monitoring was flawed because it prioritized policy violations over actual user harm. He read an email he sent to Meta's chief product officer, Chris Cox, stating that young people were experiencing harm at high rates. Meta had attempted to block Bejar's testimony, citing his deletion of messages on the Signal app, but U.S. District Judge Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers rejected the motion.
For the average household, the scale of this litigation involves the personal data and mental health outcomes of a significant portion of the American youth population. While a specific per-person dollar figure for potential damages in this federal case was not reported, the states are seeking to hold the company accountable for allegedly fueling anxiety, depression, and suicide among minors. A ruling against Meta would likely result in visible changes to the user interface and parental control features on mobile devices, potentially altering how teens interact with social media on a day-to-day basis.
The case sets a significant legal precedent for the tech industry, as it is described by experts as the largest legal test yet regarding social media's effects on young users. Beyond the 29 states in this trial, Meta faces thousands of similar lawsuits that could be influenced by the findings in Oakland. The current trial is scheduled to last six weeks, after which the court will determine if Meta's design choices violated federal law and state consumer protection statutes.
What happens next: The trial in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California is expected to continue through September 2026. Following the conclusion of testimony and arguments, Judge Gonzalez Rogers will oversee the deliberation process. Future dates for specific rulings or potential appeals have not yet been established.