# California states allege Meta designed youth features to lift ad revenue

_Published Tuesday, August 18, 2026 at 11:06 PM EDT · Products, Policy · Developing · Tier 2 — Notable_

A California attorney general's office lawyer told a jury that Meta Platforms deceived the public for years by targeting children on Facebook and Instagram with technology allegedly designed to make them compulsive users and increase advertising revenue. The statement is an allegation presented at trial, not a finding described in the supplied source. It directly puts Meta's product-design and advertising practices at issue in the states' case.

## Sources

- [Bloomberg Technology](https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2026-08-18/meta-exploits-youths-on-social-media-states-allege-at-trial)

---
Canonical: https://techandbusiness.org/newswire/8kv7ACana6hOZ4GE81OMKC
Published: 2026-08-19T03:06:16.542Z
Story chronology: 2026-08-18T17:19:58.000Z
Retrieved: 2026-10-03T12:43:04.801Z
Publisher: Tech & Business (techandbusiness.org)