Overview
- Opening statements in the Oakland bellwether trial began on Aug. 18 with 29 state attorneys general alleging Meta engineered features such as infinite scroll, autoplay and likes to maximize young users’ time and caused psychological harm.
- Meta reported Q2 results showing revenue of about $60.8 billion, roughly 28% growth, while costs rose about 55%, quarterly capital expenditures were about $31.1 billion, and free cash flow fell to roughly $784 million.
- Investors reacted to the trial and the spending profile with the stock sliding roughly 3–4%, and Meta disclosed potential exposure figures it says could reach $1.4 trillion that state lawyers dispute.
- Meta denies wrongdoing and says AI is already boosting ad impressions, pricing and revenue while launching products and services such as Muse APIs and Meta Business Agent to monetize excess compute and enterprise demand, though the timing and scale of that monetization remain uncertain.
- The companies’ recent $1 billion judgment in New Mexico and ordered policy changes show how verdicts can force product shifts, and a ruling in Oakland could create wider legal and operational consequences for how platforms design features used by children.