Hook, hold, harvest and hide: Meta’s alleged strategy laid out in first week of landmark trial

‘Meta’s business model worked especially well for kids.’ Photograph: Vicki Behringer/Reuters

Meta’s business can be boiled down to four words that begin with the letter H: hook, hold, harvest, hide, according to a lawyer who is prosecuting the world’s largest social media company.

The owner of Facebook and Instagram “hooks” in users, “holds” them on its platforms for as long as possible, “harvests” their data and then “hides” the truth from the public, she argued.