Grieving parents confront Meta outside California courtroom: ‘My son was killed’
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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.
The rally included Shannon Heacock, a Kentucky mother whose 17-year-old son, Elijah, died by suicide after falling victim to a sextortion scam. Heacock said predators followed her son from TikTok to Instagram and used his social media following to learn about his life.
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“This wasn’t an accident,” Heacock said of her son’s death. “My son did not take his life. My son was killed.”
“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 some users struggle with social media, but argued the company does not believe its products are dangerous.
“They don’t believe they’re going to do well if people don’t like their service,” Schmidt said.
The case could have massive consequences for Meta, with the company warning that penalties could reach as high as $1.4 trillion if it loses.
The states are also seeking sweeping changes to Facebook and Instagram, including eliminating likes and infinite scrolling, imposing time limits on younger users and enforcing restrictions designed to keep children under 13 off the platforms.
Former Meta safety engineer Arturo Bejar, the states’ first witness, testified that “move fast and break things” was a mantra at the company and that safety was sometimes an afterthought.
“Many products were shipped into the world,” including Reels, “and safety was not a consideration in how it was initially deployed,” Bejar said.
Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg and Instagram chief Adam Mosseri are expected to testify during the trial, which is scheduled to last six weeks.