India, Aug. 19 -- A coalition of state prosecutors. A whistleblower with a tranche of internal documents. Leaked copies of the defendant's own research showing it knew its product was harming children, and how the purportedly company chose profits over the fixes its own researchers had recommended.

That is broadly the parameters of case that opened in a federal courtroom in Oakland on Tuesday, when attorneys for California, Colorado, Kentucky and New Jersey began their opening statements against Meta for what they was wilful product choices that caused harm to children. It is also eerily similar to how the case that broke the American tobacco industry between 1994 and 1998 began.

The four states are leading a bipartisan coalition of 29 ...