Meta Platforms CEO Mark Zuckerberg leaves the office of U.S. Majority Leader John Thune (R-SD) after a meeting at the U.S. Capitol in Washington, DC, on March 26, 2026.
Nathan Howard | Reuters
After the first day of arguments in a high-stakes lawsuit regarding child safety metaCalifornia Attorney General Rob Bonta said Tuesday that the case is centered on “civil penalties, restitution and distortion” and is not primarily about money.
“This is not a damages suit,” Bonta said at a news conference after the day’s deliberations.
The trial in federal court in Oakland is expected to last six to seven weeks. Bonta and the attorneys general of Colorado, New Jersey and Kentucky are co-leading the case against meth, representing a bipartisan group of 29 trial attorneys who argue that the design and features of Facebook and Instagram foster addiction in children and harm their mental health.
Mehta’s lawyers previously warned that the consolidated lawsuit could result in fines reaching $1.4 trillion, or roughly equal to the company’s market capitalization. Statehouse officials told Chief Federal Judge Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers last week that $200 billion is a more likely figure.
An advisory jury has been seated to hear the case, but Gonzalez-Rogers will ultimately decide Mehta’s fate. This is the same structure as the trial between Elon Musk and Sam Altman earlier this year.
Lawyers representing states allege that Meta violates federal and state laws, including the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA), and various consumer protection laws. Bonta said attorneys for each state have “submitted to the court” documents containing specific statistics on the number of youth users of apps like Facebook and Instagram as a rubric for determining potential civil penalties.
“To be clear, we are not asking for $1.4 trillion,” Bonta said Tuesday. He said this is “the best number we can calculate based on that data” and “is the number Meta has estimated.” A meta-controversy that claims that.
Bonta said the plaintiffs “will seek significant financial benefits in the form of aggregate existing civil penalties as a material and pertinent part of this litigation.” “The judge will exercise discretion as to what that will look like,” he said.
The case stems from a lawsuit filed in 2023. In opening arguments, California Deputy Attorney General Megan O’Neill laid out the case against meth. Meta and Google O’Neal, who lost YouTube in March, focused his argument on claims that public statements by Meta’s CEO Mark Zuckerberg and other executives contradicted the company’s internal investigation into children’s mental health and misrepresented the true extent of the damage.
“Meta, one of the world’s largest and most powerful companies, waged a campaign to deceive and mislead users, Congress, teachers, and parents,” O’Neill told the advisory jury.
Covington & Burling trial attorney Paul Schmidt, who represents Meta, disputed O’Neal’s claims and disputed the idea that Meta executives were misleading the public with their statements about child safety.
“Looking at the evidence we’re going to ask, does this prove the specific thing they’re alleging?” Schmidt told the eight jurors.
For the alleged violations, state attorneys are asking Meta to delete all personal data of children under 13 and associated algorithms and models trained using that information, and to remove certain design elements such as infinite scrolling, autoplay, and beauty features.
The case follows New Mexico’s Raul Torres’ recent court victory against Meta, which resulted in the social media giant being directed to pay $567 million into an abatement fund as part of the second phase of a lawsuit over alleged child sexual exploitation. A jury had already ruled in March that Mr. Mehta should be forced to pay a $375 million civil penalty for violating New Mexico’s unfair practices law.
Bonta noted that Meta is not the only social media company targeted by various state attorneys general. He said several states “already have pending lawsuits against TikTok” and that they are “concerned not just about YouTube, but about YouTube.” snapHe said Meta is simply a “front line” in pursuing “industry-wide solutions” across the state.
“Who goes first? Who goes last? Ideally, everyone goes at the same time,” Bonta said. “That’s not possible. In an ideal world, they would all commit to the same reforms and changes for all children and keep them safe.”
Attention: Landmark Meta trial is now available. Here’s what you need to know:
