It’s no secret Meta is one of the wealthiest companies in the world. Last year, it brought in nearly $201 billion in revenue, and at the end of this June, it was sitting on more than $90 billion in cash and marketable securities.
Now, a federal trial underway in Oakland, Calif., is testing what it would actually take to financially hurt a company that big. California, Colorado, Kentucky, and New Jersey have accused Meta of misleading the public about the risks its platforms pose to young users and of designing features on Instagram and Facebook that keep children and teenagers hooked. The four states are going first in a case brought by a coalition of 29 state attorneys general that sued the company in 2023.