A weekly roundup of app and tech news.
August 21 2026
A trial brought by 29 U.S. states against Meta commenced on Tuesday in Oakland, California, and former Meta safety engineer Arturo Béjar was the first witness called to the stand on Tuesday and Wednesday.
The trial accuses Meta — which reported a revenue of $201 billion in 2025 — of aggravating a youth mental health crisis by deliberately designing addictive platforms with violent and sexually explicit content for children. The Instagram and Facebook parent company has also been accused of illegally collecting data on children under the age of 13 without parental consent.
Béjar testified that Meta has a “don’t ask, don’t tell" strategy regarding children’s safety, and testified that executives including CEO Mark Zuckerberg failed to respond to Béjar’s reports of product safety concerns. On Wednesday, Béjar said Meta consistently prioritized profits over safety when designing products.
The trial is projected to last for six weeks, with slated testimonials from Zuckerberg, Instagram CEO Adam Mosseri, Meta executives and experts on youth mental health and addiction. Meta stands to lose $1.4 trillion if it loses the trial.
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White House border czar Tom Homan fired back on Sunday's "State of the Union" after Sen. Chris Murphy, D-Conn., accused U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement ("ICE") of targeting parents at sch...