{"id":7162,"date":"2026-08-18T22:09:23","date_gmt":"2026-08-18T22:09:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/nextcitydigest.com\/?p=7162"},"modified":"2026-08-18T22:09:23","modified_gmt":"2026-08-18T22:09:23","slug":"she-died-by-design-grieving-mothers-condemn-meta-as-trial-begins-in-oakland","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/nextcitydigest.com\/?p=7162","title":{"rendered":"\u2018She died by design\u2019: Grieving mothers condemn Meta as trial begins in Oakland"},"content":{"rendered":"<div>\n<div>\n<p>Victoria Hinks tried taking her 16-year-old daughter\u2019s phone away time and again as the San Rafael girl became consumed by social media feeds that Hinks said repeatedly served her posts about anorexia and self-harm. And every time her daughter would fight back \u2014 even sneaking into her parents\u2019 room to nab her phone and get back online.<\/p>\n<p>Read more <a href=\"https:\/\/nextcitydigest.com\/?p=7160\">Michelin-starred chef on board for new restaurant in downtown San Jose<\/a><\/p>\n<p>Those battles over her phone continued until Aug. 7, 2024, when Alexandra, then a student at Redwood High School, died by suicide.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt was like taking drugs away from an addict,\u201d Hinks told this newspaper. \u201cThe product was working exactly as it was designed.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>On Tuesday, Hinks and about a half-dozen other mothers stood outside a federal courthouse in Oakland and railed against Meta, the company that owns social media giants Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp, as it went to trial in a nationally watched case that could have far-reaching \u2014 and financially perilous \u2014 impacts for the trillion-dollar company. The women recalled how their children died by suicide or drug overdoses after allegedly becoming hooked on the company\u2019s apps and its carefully honed algorithms.<\/p>\n<p>Speaking through tears, Hinks decried what she called the \u2018criminal\u2019 conduct of Meta chief executive Mark Zuckerberg. Her daughter, who went by Owl, had become a regular on Instagram and several non-Meta apps, including Snapchat and TikTok.<\/p>\n<p>Behind the girl\u2019s mother stood several parents, each of whom held up a handwritten banner emblazoned with the names of nearly 400 other children and teens who died after becoming consumed by their social media feeds.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cOwl didn\u2019t die by accident \u2013 she died by design,\u201d Hinks said at a press conference outside the courthouse. \u201cMeta\u2019s own engineers built an algorithm that knew exactly what to show a struggling 16-year-old girl to keep her scrolling, and what that content could do to her. They knew, and they did it anyway. That\u2019s why this trial matters.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Other parents recalled similar stories.<\/p>\n<div>\n<\/div>\n<p>One woman described her daughter dying by suicide in New Jersey after being cyberbullied on Meta\u2019s apps. Another found her son dying in her house after he became a victim of social media sextortion. Still another woman recalled her daughter talking with a drug dealer on one of Meta\u2019s apps \u2014 ultimately scoring a drug that was laced with a lethal dose of fentanyl. <\/p>\n<p>After traveling to Oakland from Colorado, Lori Schott read aloud a diary entry from her daughter, Annalee, who died by suicide at 18 after becoming engrossed with Meta\u2019s apps. In it, Annalee described \u201csitting on my bathroom floor, telling myself how much I hate myself.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cAdvertisers were allegedly given access to our children so beauty ads could be delivered at the very moments these girls were at their most vulnerable,\u201d Schott said. \u201cLet that sink in. When my daughter was struggling, it became Meta\u2019s bottom line.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Read more <a href=\"https:\/\/nextcitydigest.com\/?p=7157\">49ers\u2019 rookie Black bursts past Chargers, McCaffrey stays out as precaution<\/a><\/p>\n<p>The criticism came as attorneys general for four states \u2014 California, Colorado, New Jersey and Kentucky \u2014 opened their case against Meta in a trial over whether the company built Facebook and Instagram to addict children and concealed that harm from consumers. An advisory jury will hear the case, but its findings will not be binding. U.S. District Judge Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers will make the final decision.<\/p>\n<div>\n<\/div>\n<p>On Tuesday, Meta declined to comment on the mothers\u2019 claims and statements, but said of the trial, \u201cWe stand by our record of creating strong protections for teens, and look forward to making our case in court.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Outside the courthouse,\u00a0the mothers were flanked by numerous advocates who framed Zuckerberg and his companies as prioritizing profits over teenagers\u2019 mental health.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe courtroom doors are open, and it is time that the public sees what the executives at Meta have known all along: That their products are designed to addict and harm children,\u201d said Lennon Torres, director of movement partnerships at the HEAT Initiative.<\/p>\n<p>Lisa Pearson, an attorney and a member of Mothers Against Media Addiction, blasted Facebook and Instagram for their \u201crelentless pursuit of profit\u201d while fueling \u201ca youth mental health crisis.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>She and other advocates said the trial offered an opportunity to build on court rulings in New Mexico and Los Angeles earlier this year, which forced the company to pay hundreds of millions of dollars for the harms its products inflicted on children.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cBig Tech is the new Big Tobacco \u2014 targeting kids and addicting them early,\u201d Pearson said. \u201cToday we are witness to a historic moment \u2014 just as with Big Tobacco in the \u201990s, these companies are finally being held accountable.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><strong>If you or someone you know is struggling with feelings of depression or suicidal thoughts, the 988 Suicide &amp; Crisis Lifeline offers free, round-the-clock support, information and resources for help. Call or text the lifeline at 988, or see the\u00a0988lifeline.org\u00a0website, where chat is available.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><em>Jakob Rodgers is a senior breaking news reporter. Call, text or send him an encrypted message via Signal at 510-390-2351, or email him at jrodgers@bayareanewsgroup.com.<\/em><\/p>\n<p>Read more <a href=\"https:\/\/nextcitydigest.com\/?p=7155\">An Oakland murder suspect professed innocence from day one. Now prosecutors say they can\u2019t prove guilt<\/a><\/p>\n<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The criticism came as attorneys general for four states opened their case against Meta in an Oakland federal courtroom.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":7161,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-7162","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.6 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>\u2018She died by design\u2019: Grieving mothers condemn Meta as trial begins in Oakland - Next City Digest<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/nextcitydigest.com\/?p=7162\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"\u2018She died by design\u2019: Grieving mothers condemn Meta as trial begins in Oakland - 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