She alleges the companies sought to profit by hooking kids on their services despite knowing social media could harm their mental health. For example, he said Meta discussed creating a version of Instagram for children under 13, but ultimately never did. Over the years, investigative reporting has unearthed internal Meta documents showing the company was aware of potential mental health harm. Teens with difficult life circumstances more often said they used Instagram habitually or unintentionally, according to the document shown at trial. Australia has prohibited access to social media platforms for users under age 16.

Source: The Telegraph February 19, 2026 05:20 UTC