India, Aug. 30 -- Four words, from California's opening: hook, hold, harvest, hide. Infinite scroll, autoplay, push notifications, likes, appearance filters-engineered, the complaint says, against known vulnerabilities of adolescent development, then sold to parents as safe.

A Wednesday, late August, an Oakland courtroom, a federal jury half-settled into its seats, ready to hear witnesses on how Facebook and Instagram might have hooked an entire generation of teenagers into scrolling forever. and Meta Platforms announces something that, a year ago, would have sounded like fiction. Up to $18 billion, paid out over a decade. A cap on how long any identified teen can scroll, across both flagship apps. Notifications muted, midnight to six. L...