Meta is back in the courtroom to face its biggest social media addiction trial yet | CNN Business

Meta’s business relies on hooking young people and exploiting their data and attention, a lawyer for a group of state attorneys general argued in opening statements for the latest blockbuster trial against the social media giant on Tuesday. The trial could be Meta’s most consequential legal fight yet over youth safety and addiction. If Meta loses the case, it could fundamentally change how the company’s social media platforms operate. Both sides outlined their arguments to jurors in federal court in Oakland, including Meta’s claim that the states’ case is not supported by the evidence. The states also called their first witness Tuesday: former Facebook engineering director-turned-whistleblower Arturo Béjar, who claimed that Meta prioritized moving quickly and rolling out new products over safety. Despite having worked on safety for Meta, he testified, he struggled to prevent his teen daughter from encountering inappropriate content and solicitations from strangers on Instagram. Béjar is set to return to the stand on Wednesday. “We talked about their motto, their culture, if you will, which was to move fast and break things,” California Attorney General Rob Bonta sai