Next week the biggest social media trial yet opens in federal court in Oakland — a couple miles from my house — and I get to bike to the story instead of fly to it. Four state attorneys general (California, Colorado, Kentucky, and New Jersey) are trying to prove that Meta built Facebook and Instagram to addict kids. Meta expects the states could seek up to $1.4 trillion. Zuckerberg and Mosseri are expected on the stand. This is a big one.

Here I walk through where this case came from — Frances Haugen’s leaks, the LA and New Mexico verdicts already on the board — and why the whole thing hinges on one word: design. If the states can convince Judge Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers that infinite scroll and autoplay are harmful design choices rather than protected speech, thirty years of Section 230 immunity might start to crack, and with it, the social media era.

In this episode:

• Why four states are trying this case together, and what the other 29 are claiming

• The design-versus-content argument, and how it gets around Section 230

• The March verdicts in Los Angeles ($6M, Meta and YouTube) and New Mexico (Meta, nearly $1B)

• Why TikTok, Snap, and YouTube keep settling while Meta fights

• The next bellwether coming in February, and why it matters

Links: Reuters trial preview · CNN: Zuckerberg's testimony · Meta's own 10-Q (SEC)