{"id":85544,"date":"2026-08-18T09:29:37","date_gmt":"2026-08-18T13:29:37","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/spiritdaily.org\/blog\/?p=85544"},"modified":"2026-08-18T09:29:37","modified_gmt":"2026-08-18T13:29:37","slug":"states-take-meta-to-trial-in-california-in-the-biggest-fight-yet-over-social-media-harms-to-children","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/spiritdaily.org\/blog\/states-take-meta-to-trial-in-california-in-the-biggest-fight-yet-over-social-media-harms-to-children\/","title":{"rendered":"States Take Meta To Trial In California In The Biggest Fight Yet Over Social Media Harms To Children"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>From<em> Associated Press:<\/em><\/p>\n<p>Of the thousands of lawsuits Meta faces over child safety on its platforms, none may be more consequential than one\u00a0<span class=\"LinkEnhancement\"><a class=\"Link AnClick-LinkEnhancement\" href=\"https:\/\/apnews.com\/article\/instagram-facebook-children-teens-harms-lawsuit-attorney-general-1805492a38f7cee111cbb865cc786c28\" data-gtm-enhancement-style=\"LinkEnhancementA\">going to trial<\/a><\/span>\u00a0this week in California.<\/p>\n<p>States are seeking extensive financial damages that could, in theory, total as much as $1.4 trillion, plus changes to how the company operates Facebook and Instagram.\u00a0The lawsuit accuses the social media giant of contributing to the youth\u00a0<span class=\"LinkEnhancement\"><a class=\"Link AnClick-LinkEnhancement\" href=\"https:\/\/apnews.com\/article\/social-media-addiction-signs-adults-da4a28f1b361b3d909b4790d4f462089\" data-gtm-enhancement-style=\"LinkEnhancementA\">mental health crisis<\/a><\/span>\u00a0by knowingly and deliberately designing features that\u00a0<span class=\"LinkEnhancement\"><a class=\"Link AnClick-LinkEnhancement\" href=\"https:\/\/apnews.com\/article\/influenced-social-media-mental-health-advice-620e277528728498c1202690d0512f85\" data-gtm-enhancement-style=\"LinkEnhancementA\">get children addicted<\/a><\/span>\u00a0to its platforms. It also claims that Meta routinely collects data on children under 13 without their parents\u2019 consent, in violation of federal law.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>From Associated Press: Of the thousands of lawsuits Meta faces over child safety on its platforms, none may be more.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[32],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-85544","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-news","7":"entry"},"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/spiritdaily.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/85544","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/spiritdaily.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/spiritdaily.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/spiritdaily.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/spiritdaily.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=85544"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/spiritdaily.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/85544\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":85545,"href":"https:\/\/spiritdaily.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/85544\/revisions\/85545"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/spiritdaily.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=85544"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/spiritdaily.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=85544"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/spiritdaily.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=85544"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}