United Kingdom, Aug. 19 -- Meta allegedly "hooked" a generation of children on Facebook and Instagram despite knowing the platforms could harm their mental health, a US court has heard.

The claims were made as a six-week jury trial began in Oakland, California, on Tuesday (18.08.26) over a lawsuit brought by 29 US states, including California and New York.

The states accuse Meta of violating federal and state laws protecting children and are seeking billions of dollars in damages.

They also want the company to make sweeping changes to Instagram and Facebook, including ending infinite scrolling and removing like counts for young users.

Megan O'Neill, a lead attorney for California, told jurors that Meta's own internal documents showed ...