Grieving parents confront Meta outside California courtroom: My son was killed

Parents clutching photos of their children outside an Oakland federal courthouse Tuesday as Meta faced a landmark trial over allegations that it deliberately hooked kids on social media.The emotional scene, including a massive list of young victims, unfolded as opening statements began inside the courtroom, where a group of 29 states — including California — accused Meta of designing Facebook and Instagram to keep young users hooked while misleading the public about the platforms’ risks.Mothers stood behind a giant white sign bearing the names of nearly 600 children who advocates say were harmed by social media, including 11-year-old Giovanni and 13-year-old Bubba according to the AP.Among the parents outside was Mary Rodee, whose 15-year-old son, Riley Basford, died by suicide in 2021 after being victimized by a predator on Facebook.“They call it spontaneous suicide,” Rodee told Reuters.“I call it what it was, the predictable outcome of a system that protects corporations instead of children.”The mother of 14-year-old Alexander Neville was also at the courthouse.

Her son died from fentanyl after she said he was tricked by a drug dealer on Snapchat.“We want Meta, in short, to stop hurting our kids, stop knowingly hurting our kids, stop using features that you know create mental health harms to kids,” California Attorney General Rob Bonta told NPR.Inside the courtroom, California Deputy Attorney General Megan O’Neill told the eight-person jury that Meta’s business model was to “hook the users, hold them for as long as they can, harvest their data, and then hide the truth from the ⁠public.”“It worked especially well for kids,” O’Neill added.“Meta needed kids, and it needed to reassure the people who cared about those kids that the kids are safe.”Meta pushed back hard, arguing there is no clear evidence that social media use causes poor well-being among adolescents.Meta attorney Paul Schmidt said there was “no dispute” that s...