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"content": "\u003cp>Mark Zuckerberg created a company culture that made it “practically impossible” to address safety and well-being issues in its products, Meta whistleblower Arturo Béjar said in a federal courtroom in Oakland on Wednesday during the \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12095583/meta-hooked-kids-federal-trial-against-tech-giant-kicks-off-in-oakland\">landmark child safety trial\u003c/a> against the tech company. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>The former Meta safety engineer said that features the company built to support mental health and counter social media addiction were “designed to fail.”\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>“It’s like [if] you have a car and they give you some brakes, but the brakes are in the trunk,” he said. “You have to go look for it and install it before you turn it on.” \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cfigure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"2560\" height=\"1440\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/08/260819-MetaTrialSketch3_VB-scaled.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-12096038\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/08/260819-MetaTrialSketch3_VB-scaled.jpg 2560w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/08/260819-MetaTrialSketch3_VB-2000x1125.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/08/260819-MetaTrialSketch3_VB-160x90.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/08/260819-MetaTrialSketch3_VB-1536x864.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/08/260819-MetaTrialSketch3_VB-2048x1152.jpg 2048w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/08/260819-MetaTrialSketch3_VB-1200x675.jpg 1200w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2560px) 100vw, 2560px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">Chris Lewis, commissioner of consumer and senior protection of the Kentucky Attorney General’s Office, cross-examines psychology professor Jean Twenge on Aug. 19, 2026, in an Oakland courtroom. (Vicki Behringer for KQED)\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Béjar was the first witness called by the attorneys general of California, Colorado, Kentucky and New Jersey, who allege that the largest social media company in the world knowingly designed its products in ways that could harm children. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Meta, which owns Instagram, Facebook and WhatsApp, has denied the allegations.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The company has acknowledged that it has a role to play in addressing teen well-being, and that some teens struggle to manage their time on social media, but said that it acts on those issues. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Meta also said in a statement via email that it emphasized ongoing feedback, research and learning to improve safety features.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>In his second day on the stand, Béjar said the company’s goal was to get products into users’ hands quickly. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>While Béjar worked at Meta, leading Facebook’s Protect and Care team for six years in the 2010s, and as a consultant on Instagram’s well-being team from 2019 to 2021, he said office walls featured posters of Zuckerberg saying “Move Fast and Break Things.”\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>“Most of the time, safety and security was an afterthought,” Béjar said. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Béjar said during his first stint with the company, he felt that it cared about safety. When he returned between 2019 and 2021, though, he said he was not proud of the well-being products Instagram was sending. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Béjar said features that Instagram introduced over the years, advertised as helping users manage the amount of time they spent on the apps, were intentionally ineffective. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cfigure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1125\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/08/260819-MetaTrialSketch2_VB-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-12096013\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/08/260819-MetaTrialSketch2_VB-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/08/260819-MetaTrialSketch2_VB-KQED-160x90.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/08/260819-MetaTrialSketch2_VB-KQED-1536x864.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/08/260819-MetaTrialSketch2_VB-KQED-1200x675.jpg 1200w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">Meta Attorney Brian Stekloff cross-examined Meta whistleblower Arturo Béjar on Aug. 19, 2026, in an Oakland courtroom. (Vicki Behringer for KQED)\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>He pointed specifically to “Quiet Mode,” which pauses notifications and sets an account’s status as “away,” and a “Take a Break” button, a full-screen pop-up that gives users a nudge to close the app after a certain amount of continuous scrolling time. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Both are optional and user-initiated. They can also be ignored. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>“If ‘Take a Break’ was designed to be effective, it would have been designed and measured by how effective it was to getting people to stop using the product,” Béjar said. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Under cross-examination, Meta attorney Brian Stekloff got Béjar to affirm his belief that there are benefits to social media, including for teens. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Béjar said that Meta hired highly educated and well-qualified people to work on safety, many of whom remained at the company after he left, and that during his first, full-time role, Zuckerberg and other executives would work to correct issues when they found them. Both times he departed the company were on good terms, Béjar said.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>But the company hid evidence of the psychological harm it caused children behind euphemistic language and misleading metrics, Béjar said. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cfigure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1125\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/08/MetaTrialSketch1_VB-KQED-1.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-12096040\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/08/MetaTrialSketch1_VB-KQED-1.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/08/MetaTrialSketch1_VB-KQED-1-160x90.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/08/MetaTrialSketch1_VB-KQED-1-1536x864.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/08/MetaTrialSketch1_VB-KQED-1-1200x675.jpg 1200w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">California Deputy Attorney General Megan O’Neill delivered her opening statement in the state’s case against Meta on Aug. 18, 2026, in Oakland. O’Neill accused Meta of hiding its own research that showed children were being harmed by its platforms. Opening arguments began Tuesday in the federal suit brought by four attorneys general against Meta. (Vicki Behringer for KQED)\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>“It was the company culture that made it near impossible to deliver things that would have been invaluable to learn about harm so that you could reduce it,” Béjar said, adding that he “tried to do it the first year” he returned as a consultant. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>He said that when Meta was accused of harming children, it responded with data showing that more kids benefited.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>“If we make, out of 100 kids, 31 kids less anxious and 30 kids more anxious … [that to Meta is] more good than harm,” he said. “It’s like math with harm.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The work should be to protect the good … while bringing the harm as close to zero as possible,” Béjar said.\u003c/p>\n\n",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>Mark Zuckerberg created a company culture that made it “practically impossible” to address safety and well-being issues in its products, Meta whistleblower Arturo Béjar said in a federal courtroom in Oakland on Wednesday during the \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12095583/meta-hooked-kids-federal-trial-against-tech-giant-kicks-off-in-oakland\">landmark child safety trial\u003c/a> against the tech company. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>The former Meta safety engineer said that features the company built to support mental health and counter social media addiction were “designed to fail.”\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>“It’s like [if] you have a car and they give you some brakes, but the brakes are in the trunk,” he said. “You have to go look for it and install it before you turn it on.” \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cfigure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"2560\" height=\"1440\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/08/260819-MetaTrialSketch3_VB-scaled.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-12096038\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/08/260819-MetaTrialSketch3_VB-scaled.jpg 2560w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/08/260819-MetaTrialSketch3_VB-2000x1125.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/08/260819-MetaTrialSketch3_VB-160x90.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/08/260819-MetaTrialSketch3_VB-1536x864.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/08/260819-MetaTrialSketch3_VB-2048x1152.jpg 2048w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/08/260819-MetaTrialSketch3_VB-1200x675.jpg 1200w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2560px) 100vw, 2560px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">Chris Lewis, commissioner of consumer and senior protection of the Kentucky Attorney General’s Office, cross-examines psychology professor Jean Twenge on Aug. 19, 2026, in an Oakland courtroom. (Vicki Behringer for KQED)\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Béjar was the first witness called by the attorneys general of California, Colorado, Kentucky and New Jersey, who allege that the largest social media company in the world knowingly designed its products in ways that could harm children. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Meta, which owns Instagram, Facebook and WhatsApp, has denied the allegations.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The company has acknowledged that it has a role to play in addressing teen well-being, and that some teens struggle to manage their time on social media, but said that it acts on those issues. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Meta also said in a statement via email that it emphasized ongoing feedback, research and learning to improve safety features.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>In his second day on the stand, Béjar said the company’s goal was to get products into users’ hands quickly. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>While Béjar worked at Meta, leading Facebook’s Protect and Care team for six years in the 2010s, and as a consultant on Instagram’s well-being team from 2019 to 2021, he said office walls featured posters of Zuckerberg saying “Move Fast and Break Things.”\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>“Most of the time, safety and security was an afterthought,” Béjar said. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Béjar said during his first stint with the company, he felt that it cared about safety. When he returned between 2019 and 2021, though, he said he was not proud of the well-being products Instagram was sending. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Béjar said features that Instagram introduced over the years, advertised as helping users manage the amount of time they spent on the apps, were intentionally ineffective. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cfigure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1125\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/08/260819-MetaTrialSketch2_VB-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-12096013\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/08/260819-MetaTrialSketch2_VB-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/08/260819-MetaTrialSketch2_VB-KQED-160x90.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/08/260819-MetaTrialSketch2_VB-KQED-1536x864.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/08/260819-MetaTrialSketch2_VB-KQED-1200x675.jpg 1200w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">Meta Attorney Brian Stekloff cross-examined Meta whistleblower Arturo Béjar on Aug. 19, 2026, in an Oakland courtroom. (Vicki Behringer for KQED)\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>He pointed specifically to “Quiet Mode,” which pauses notifications and sets an account’s status as “away,” and a “Take a Break” button, a full-screen pop-up that gives users a nudge to close the app after a certain amount of continuous scrolling time. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Both are optional and user-initiated. They can also be ignored. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>“If ‘Take a Break’ was designed to be effective, it would have been designed and measured by how effective it was to getting people to stop using the product,” Béjar said. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Under cross-examination, Meta attorney Brian Stekloff got Béjar to affirm his belief that there are benefits to social media, including for teens. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Béjar said that Meta hired highly educated and well-qualified people to work on safety, many of whom remained at the company after he left, and that during his first, full-time role, Zuckerberg and other executives would work to correct issues when they found them. Both times he departed the company were on good terms, Béjar said.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>But the company hid evidence of the psychological harm it caused children behind euphemistic language and misleading metrics, Béjar said. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cfigure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1125\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/08/MetaTrialSketch1_VB-KQED-1.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-12096040\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/08/MetaTrialSketch1_VB-KQED-1.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/08/MetaTrialSketch1_VB-KQED-1-160x90.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/08/MetaTrialSketch1_VB-KQED-1-1536x864.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/08/MetaTrialSketch1_VB-KQED-1-1200x675.jpg 1200w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">California Deputy Attorney General Megan O’Neill delivered her opening statement in the state’s case against Meta on Aug. 18, 2026, in Oakland. O’Neill accused Meta of hiding its own research that showed children were being harmed by its platforms. Opening arguments began Tuesday in the federal suit brought by four attorneys general against Meta. (Vicki Behringer for KQED)\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>“It was the company culture that made it near impossible to deliver things that would have been invaluable to learn about harm so that you could reduce it,” Béjar said, adding that he “tried to do it the first year” he returned as a consultant. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>He said that when Meta was accused of harming children, it responded with data showing that more kids benefited.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>“If we make, out of 100 kids, 31 kids less anxious and 30 kids more anxious … [that to Meta is] more good than harm,” he said. “It’s like math with harm.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The work should be to protect the good … while bringing the harm as close to zero as possible,” Béjar said.\u003c/p>\n\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
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"slug": "bay-area-lawmakers-call-metas-content-moderation-inadequate-ahead-of-2026-midterms",
"title": "Bay Area Lawmakers Call Meta’s Content Moderation ‘Inadequate’ Ahead of 2026 Midterms",
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"headTitle": "Bay Area Lawmakers Call Meta’s Content Moderation ‘Inadequate’ Ahead of 2026 Midterms | KQED",
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"content": "\u003cp>Rep. Kevin Mullin, D-San Mateo, sent a letter to Mark Zuckerberg on Tuesday raising concerns about \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/tag/meta\">Meta’s content moderation policies\u003c/a> — including fact-checking rollbacks, the automation of risk review and the spread of content generated by artificial intelligence across its platforms. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>With a \u003ca href=\"https://www.pewresearch.org/journalism/fact-sheet/social-media-and-news-fact-sheet/\">majority\u003c/a> of Americans getting at least some of their news from social media, Mullin told KQED he is “deeply concerned” and wants to know how Meta plans to combat deepfakes and manage AI-generated misinformation ahead of the 2026 election. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>“While Meta is just one company, it runs some of the largest social media platforms in the world: Facebook, Instagram, Threads and WhatsApp,” Mullin said. “Its decisions have a major impact on what Americans see every single day. American voters have a right to know whether what they are seeing online about candidates and elections is real or fake.” \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cfigure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/10/251002-pelosishutdown_00078_TV_qed.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-12058425\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/10/251002-pelosishutdown_00078_TV_qed.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/10/251002-pelosishutdown_00078_TV_qed-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/10/251002-pelosishutdown_00078_TV_qed-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">Congressman Kevin Mullin speaks at North East Medical Services on the second day since the government shutdown in San Francisco on Oct. 2, 2025. (Tâm Vũ/KQED)\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Eighteen lawmakers, including Rep. Nancy Pelosi, D-San Francisco, and Rep. Lateefah Simon, D-Oakland, signed the letter alongside Mullin.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Generative AI has already impacted political campaigns, according to the letter. A 22-year-old user in India created a fake conservative influencer named “Emily Hart” that espoused anti-abortion and anti-immigration views, and amassed millions of views before Instagram removed the account, Mullin wrote. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Ahead of the 2026 midterms, multiple deepfakes have circulated across Senate races in Texas and Georgia, featuring false videos of candidates speaking to the camera. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Meta posted its \u003ca href=\"https://www.meta.com/sr/meta-2026-us-elections/\">2026 election strategy\u003c/a> in February, the company said in an email. This includes blocking new political ads in the final week of the election, requiring AI disclosures for political ads, running an Election Operation Center and relying on \u003ca href=\"https://www.meta.com/technologies/community-notes/\">Community Notes\u003c/a> instead of fact checkers, which it used until \u003ca href=\"https://www.npr.org/2025/01/07/nx-s1-5251151/meta-fact-checking-mark-zuckerberg-trump\">2025\u003c/a>. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Last week, KQED \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12095020/aisha-wahab-to-file-fec-complaint-over-alleged-election-interference-in-race-for-swalwell-seat\">reported\u003c/a> that State Sen. Aisha Wahab, D-Hayward, planned to file a complaint with the Federal Election Commission over interference on social media, including a “surge of suspicious accounts, bot-like activity,” in the race to fill the seat formerly held by Eric Swalwell. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>“Meta has a responsibility to make sure voters are talking to real people and making decisions based on real information,” Wahab told KQED on Tuesday. “Political campaigns can’t be cyber investigators with the capabilities to figure out whether coordinated fake accounts are manipulating an election. That is Meta’s job.” \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Daniel Kreiss, a professor of political communication at the University of North Carolina, said that AI has made it cheaper both to produce creative content — like social media videos — and to target that content at key voting blocks using large data sets, including polling data.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>“Individual bad actors, or collective bad actors, can do a lot more with a lot less,” Kreiss said. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>This new reality means that Meta has a heightened responsibility to ensure that electoral institutions can function properly, Kreiss continued. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>“These companies benefit from being in democracies,” Kreiss said. “They have an interest in protecting the very institutions and freedoms that enabled them to become profitable global companies.” \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cfigure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/04/MetaGetty.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-12035915\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/04/MetaGetty.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/04/MetaGetty-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/04/MetaGetty-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/04/MetaGetty-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/04/MetaGetty-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/04/MetaGetty-1920x1280.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">CEO of Meta, Mark Zuckerberg (center), attends the inauguration ceremony of Donald Trump as he swears in as the 47th U.S. President in the U.S. Capitol Rotunda in Washington, D.C., on Jan. 20, 2025. (Kenny Holston/AFP via Getty Images)\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>While Meta has started \u003ca href=\"https://www.meta.com/help/artificial-intelligence/355108217670024/\">flagging\u003c/a> the use of AI in advertisements, the platform’s design makes endorsement or sponsorship disclosure more opaque than traditional television ads — ultimately making it more difficult for voters to see what money is behind the speech circulating online. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>“There’s a massive political influencer economy that takes shape on these platforms that is not disclosed to the public,” Kreiss said. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Even though California passed a law requiring content creators to disclose political ads in 2023, these disclosures are difficult to enforce, the \u003ca href=\"https://apnews.com/article/california-influencers-content-creators-paid-political-ads-531fced44944908eba1dbbef0c00fdc4\">\u003cem>Associated Press\u003c/em>\u003c/a> reported. Users may not always know who is behind the content they’re seeing.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Mullin gave Meta until Sept. 18 to respond to nine questions outlined in Tuesday’s letter. He asked the company to report back on a range of questions, from staffing plans and budget for election integrity teams to the company’s current ad disclosure requirements. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>KQED’s \u003c/em>\u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/author/skennedy\">\u003cem>Samantha Kennedy \u003c/em>\u003c/a>\u003cem>contributed to this report.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\n",
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>“While Meta is just one company, it runs some of the largest social media platforms in the world: Facebook, Instagram, Threads and WhatsApp,” Mullin said. “Its decisions have a major impact on what Americans see every single day. American voters have a right to know whether what they are seeing online about candidates and elections is real or fake.” \u003c/p>\n",
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cfigure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\">\u003cimg src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/10/251002-pelosishutdown_00078_TV_qed.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-12058425\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/10/251002-pelosishutdown_00078_TV_qed.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/10/251002-pelosishutdown_00078_TV_qed-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/10/251002-pelosishutdown_00078_TV_qed-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"(min-width: 992px) min(100vw, 1536px), (min-width: 768px) min(100vw, 1280px), min(100vw, 1020px)\" />\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">Congressman Kevin Mullin speaks at North East Medical Services on the second day since the government shutdown in San Francisco on Oct. 2, 2025. \u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n",
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>Eighteen lawmakers, including Rep. Nancy Pelosi, D-San Francisco, and Rep. Lateefah Simon, D-Oakland, signed the letter alongside Mullin.\u003c/p>\n",
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>Generative AI has already impacted political campaigns, according to the letter. A 22-year-old user in India created a fake conservative influencer named “Emily Hart” that espoused anti-abortion and anti-immigration views, and amassed millions of views before Instagram removed the account, Mullin wrote. \u003c/p>\n",
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>Meta posted its \u003ca href=\"https://www.meta.com/sr/meta-2026-us-elections/\">2026 election strategy\u003c/a> in February, the company said in an email. This includes blocking new political ads in the final week of the election, requiring AI disclosures for political ads, running an Election Operation Center and relying on \u003ca href=\"https://www.meta.com/technologies/community-notes/\">Community Notes\u003c/a> instead of fact checkers, which it used until \u003ca href=\"https://www.npr.org/2025/01/07/nx-s1-5251151/meta-fact-checking-mark-zuckerberg-trump\">2025\u003c/a>. \u003c/p>\n",
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>Last week, KQED \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12095020/aisha-wahab-to-file-fec-complaint-over-alleged-election-interference-in-race-for-swalwell-seat\">reported\u003c/a> that State Sen. Aisha Wahab, D-Hayward, planned to file a complaint with the Federal Election Commission over interference on social media, including a “surge of suspicious accounts, bot-like activity,” in the race to fill the seat formerly held by Eric Swalwell. \u003c/p>\n",
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>Daniel Kreiss, a professor of political communication at the University of North Carolina, said that AI has made it cheaper both to produce creative content — like social media videos — and to target that content at key voting blocks using large data sets, including polling data.\u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>Daniel Kreiss, a professor of political communication at the University of North Carolina, said that AI has made it cheaper both to produce creative content — like social media videos — and to target that content at key voting blocks using large data sets, including polling data.\u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>This new reality means that Meta has a heightened responsibility to ensure that electoral institutions can function properly, Kreiss continued. \u003c/p>\n",
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>“These companies benefit from being in democracies,” Kreiss said. “They have an interest in protecting the very institutions and freedoms that enabled them to become profitable global companies.” \u003c/p>\n",
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>While Meta has started \u003ca href=\"https://www.meta.com/help/artificial-intelligence/355108217670024/\">flagging\u003c/a> the use of AI in advertisements, the platform’s design makes endorsement or sponsorship disclosure more opaque than traditional television ads — ultimately making it more difficult for voters to see what money is behind the speech circulating online. \u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>While Meta has started \u003ca href=\"https://www.meta.com/help/artificial-intelligence/355108217670024/\">flagging\u003c/a> the use of AI in advertisements, the platform’s design makes endorsement or sponsorship disclosure more opaque than traditional television ads — ultimately making it more difficult for voters to see what money is behind the speech circulating online. \u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>“There’s a massive political influencer economy that takes shape on these platforms that is not disclosed to the public,” Kreiss said. \u003c/p>\n",
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>Even though California passed a law requiring content creators to disclose political ads in 2023, these disclosures are difficult to enforce, the \u003ca href=\"https://apnews.com/article/california-influencers-content-creators-paid-political-ads-531fced44944908eba1dbbef0c00fdc4\">\u003cem>Associated Press\u003c/em>\u003c/a> reported. Users may not always know who is behind the content they’re seeing.\u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>Even though California passed a law requiring content creators to disclose political ads in 2023, these disclosures are difficult to enforce, the \u003ca href=\"https://apnews.com/article/california-influencers-content-creators-paid-political-ads-531fced44944908eba1dbbef0c00fdc4\">\u003cem>Associated Press\u003c/em>\u003c/a> reported. Users may not always know who is behind the content they’re seeing.\u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>Mullin gave Meta until Sept. 18 to respond to nine questions outlined in Tuesday’s letter. He asked the company to report back on a range of questions, from staffing plans and budget for election integrity teams to the company’s current ad disclosure requirements. \u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>Mullin gave Meta until Sept. 18 to respond to nine questions outlined in Tuesday’s letter. He asked the company to report back on a range of questions, from staffing plans and budget for election integrity teams to the company’s current ad disclosure requirements. \u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>\u003cem>KQED’s \u003c/em>\u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/author/skennedy\">\u003cem>Samantha Kennedy \u003c/em>\u003c/a>\u003cem>contributed to this report.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n",
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"excerpt": "AI makes it easier than ever to spread election misinformation. Lawmakers want to know what Meta plans to do about it.",
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"title": "Bay Area Lawmakers Call Meta’s Content Moderation ‘Inadequate’ Ahead of 2026 Midterms | KQED",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>Rep. Kevin Mullin, D-San Mateo, sent a letter to Mark Zuckerberg on Tuesday raising concerns about \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/tag/meta\">Meta’s content moderation policies\u003c/a> — including fact-checking rollbacks, the automation of risk review and the spread of content generated by artificial intelligence across its platforms. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>With a \u003ca href=\"https://www.pewresearch.org/journalism/fact-sheet/social-media-and-news-fact-sheet/\">majority\u003c/a> of Americans getting at least some of their news from social media, Mullin told KQED he is “deeply concerned” and wants to know how Meta plans to combat deepfakes and manage AI-generated misinformation ahead of the 2026 election. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>“While Meta is just one company, it runs some of the largest social media platforms in the world: Facebook, Instagram, Threads and WhatsApp,” Mullin said. “Its decisions have a major impact on what Americans see every single day. American voters have a right to know whether what they are seeing online about candidates and elections is real or fake.” \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cfigure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/10/251002-pelosishutdown_00078_TV_qed.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-12058425\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/10/251002-pelosishutdown_00078_TV_qed.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/10/251002-pelosishutdown_00078_TV_qed-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/10/251002-pelosishutdown_00078_TV_qed-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">Congressman Kevin Mullin speaks at North East Medical Services on the second day since the government shutdown in San Francisco on Oct. 2, 2025. (Tâm Vũ/KQED)\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Eighteen lawmakers, including Rep. Nancy Pelosi, D-San Francisco, and Rep. Lateefah Simon, D-Oakland, signed the letter alongside Mullin.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Generative AI has already impacted political campaigns, according to the letter. A 22-year-old user in India created a fake conservative influencer named “Emily Hart” that espoused anti-abortion and anti-immigration views, and amassed millions of views before Instagram removed the account, Mullin wrote. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Ahead of the 2026 midterms, multiple deepfakes have circulated across Senate races in Texas and Georgia, featuring false videos of candidates speaking to the camera. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Meta posted its \u003ca href=\"https://www.meta.com/sr/meta-2026-us-elections/\">2026 election strategy\u003c/a> in February, the company said in an email. This includes blocking new political ads in the final week of the election, requiring AI disclosures for political ads, running an Election Operation Center and relying on \u003ca href=\"https://www.meta.com/technologies/community-notes/\">Community Notes\u003c/a> instead of fact checkers, which it used until \u003ca href=\"https://www.npr.org/2025/01/07/nx-s1-5251151/meta-fact-checking-mark-zuckerberg-trump\">2025\u003c/a>. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Last week, KQED \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12095020/aisha-wahab-to-file-fec-complaint-over-alleged-election-interference-in-race-for-swalwell-seat\">reported\u003c/a> that State Sen. Aisha Wahab, D-Hayward, planned to file a complaint with the Federal Election Commission over interference on social media, including a “surge of suspicious accounts, bot-like activity,” in the race to fill the seat formerly held by Eric Swalwell. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>“Meta has a responsibility to make sure voters are talking to real people and making decisions based on real information,” Wahab told KQED on Tuesday. “Political campaigns can’t be cyber investigators with the capabilities to figure out whether coordinated fake accounts are manipulating an election. That is Meta’s job.” \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Daniel Kreiss, a professor of political communication at the University of North Carolina, said that AI has made it cheaper both to produce creative content — like social media videos — and to target that content at key voting blocks using large data sets, including polling data.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>“Individual bad actors, or collective bad actors, can do a lot more with a lot less,” Kreiss said. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>This new reality means that Meta has a heightened responsibility to ensure that electoral institutions can function properly, Kreiss continued. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>“These companies benefit from being in democracies,” Kreiss said. “They have an interest in protecting the very institutions and freedoms that enabled them to become profitable global companies.” \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cfigure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/04/MetaGetty.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-12035915\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/04/MetaGetty.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/04/MetaGetty-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/04/MetaGetty-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/04/MetaGetty-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/04/MetaGetty-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/04/MetaGetty-1920x1280.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">CEO of Meta, Mark Zuckerberg (center), attends the inauguration ceremony of Donald Trump as he swears in as the 47th U.S. President in the U.S. Capitol Rotunda in Washington, D.C., on Jan. 20, 2025. (Kenny Holston/AFP via Getty Images)\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>While Meta has started \u003ca href=\"https://www.meta.com/help/artificial-intelligence/355108217670024/\">flagging\u003c/a> the use of AI in advertisements, the platform’s design makes endorsement or sponsorship disclosure more opaque than traditional television ads — ultimately making it more difficult for voters to see what money is behind the speech circulating online. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>“There’s a massive political influencer economy that takes shape on these platforms that is not disclosed to the public,” Kreiss said. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Even though California passed a law requiring content creators to disclose political ads in 2023, these disclosures are difficult to enforce, the \u003ca href=\"https://apnews.com/article/california-influencers-content-creators-paid-political-ads-531fced44944908eba1dbbef0c00fdc4\">\u003cem>Associated Press\u003c/em>\u003c/a> reported. Users may not always know who is behind the content they’re seeing.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Mullin gave Meta until Sept. 18 to respond to nine questions outlined in Tuesday’s letter. He asked the company to report back on a range of questions, from staffing plans and budget for election integrity teams to the company’s current ad disclosure requirements. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>KQED’s \u003c/em>\u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/author/skennedy\">\u003cem>Samantha Kennedy \u003c/em>\u003c/a>\u003cem>contributed to this report.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
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"slug": "meta-hooked-kids-federal-trial-against-tech-giant-kicks-off-in-oakland",
"title": "‘Meta Hooked Kids’: Federal Trial Against Tech Giant Kicks Off in Oakland",
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"headTitle": "‘Meta Hooked Kids’: Federal Trial Against Tech Giant Kicks Off in Oakland | KQED",
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"content": "\u003cp>A \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12094595/meta-faces-up-to-1-4-trillion-reckoning-as-youth-addiction-trial-opens-in-oakland\">landmark trial against Meta\u003c/a> opened in Oakland on Tuesday, with California leading a coalition of states accusing the largest social media company in the world of knowingly designing its products in ways that could harm children.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>“What you’re going to hear in this trial is how Meta hooked kids on its platforms. How it designed those platforms so that kids kept coming back,” Megan O’Neill, a deputy attorney general for California, told the court during her opening statement on Tuesday morning. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>“Meta had its own research showing how kids had bad, even traumatic, experiences on its apps,” O’Neill said. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>If the states succeed, Meta could be held liable for up to $1.4 trillion in damages — roughly what the company is worth on Wall Street — and required to make changes to how it runs Instagram and Facebook platforms.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cfigure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1125\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/08/MetaTrialSketch1_VB-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-12095798\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/08/MetaTrialSketch1_VB-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/08/MetaTrialSketch1_VB-KQED-160x90.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/08/MetaTrialSketch1_VB-KQED-1536x864.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/08/MetaTrialSketch1_VB-KQED-1200x675.jpg 1200w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">California Deputy Attorney General Megan O’Neill delivered her opening statement in the state’s case against Meta on Aug. 18, 2026, in Oakland. O’Neill accused Meta of hiding its own research that showed children were being harmed by its platforms. Opening arguments began Tuesday in the federal suit brought by four attorneys general against Meta. (Vicki Behringer for KQED)\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>In recent years, Meta and other social media companies have been slammed with thousands of lawsuits brought by families and school districts, claiming social media addiction has harmed children’s mental health.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Over several decades, the companies have been able to defeat many lawsuits, arguing federal law protects platforms from being held liable for the content users publish on their sites. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>But states, school districts and individuals have begun employing a different strategy that led to Meta losses in district courts in Los Angeles and New Mexico in recent years: arguing that social media platforms like Meta have deliberately engineered products to be addictive, even or especially for children, and misled the public about their behavior and the risks in order to make money and increase its customer base. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Tens of millions of teens and children under 13 have Instagram and Facebook accounts, earning Meta ad revenue and allowing it to harvest emails, phone numbers, images of kids’ faces and other personal information.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>“Time and time again, profits won,” O’Neill said. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>The federal suit — brought by the attorneys general of California, Colorado, Kentucky and New Jersey and joined by 29 others, whose cases will go to trial at a later time — argues that Meta built features that it knew would hook young people and did little to remove children under 13 from its platforms, while telling parents and regulators otherwise. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\u003cp>“We are not here to hold Meta responsible for the fact that there are bad people out there who post bad things that may harm kids,” O’Neill said. “We are holding Meta responsible for its own conduct. What Meta said and didn’t say, what Meta did and didn’t do. The choices that Meta made.”\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Internal company documents and whistleblowers, including Arturo Béjar, the former leader of Integrity and Care Facebook, have revealed that Instagram aimed to increase the minutes that teen users spent on their platform each year, and that the company hid its own research showing the negative impacts its apps had on teens. The company also knew, they allege, that millions of children under the age of 13, barred from Facebook and Instagram in the company’s terms and conditions, were users. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Béjar testified that the company “has taken a ‘Don’t ask, don’t tell’ approach” to children under 13 using its platforms.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>“Coco was 12 when she opened Instagram for the first time in 2017, four years before the world learned what Meta already knew: Instagram was harming teenage girls,” mom Julianna Arnold said outside the Oakland courtroom. There, advocates gathered to pay tribute to nearly 400 deceased young people who were allegedly lured into sexual exploitation through Facebook, or served content that made them feel worse about themselves and their bodies.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>“By her teens, [Coco] could not look away. Her scrolling became depression, then anxiety she couldn’t escape,” Arnold said.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>She said her daughter was groomed by a man on Instagram, who sold her what she thought was Percocet, but turned out to be a fatal dose of fentanyl, when she was 17. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>“Coco’s story was not an accident. We know it was the predictable outcome of a platform Meta knew harmed children,” Arnold said. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cfigure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1125\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/08/MetaTrialSketch3_VB-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-12095855\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/08/MetaTrialSketch3_VB-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/08/MetaTrialSketch3_VB-KQED-160x90.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/08/MetaTrialSketch3_VB-KQED-1536x864.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/08/MetaTrialSketch3_VB-KQED-1200x675.jpg 1200w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">Arturo Béjar, a security consultant who formerly worked for Meta, testified on Aug. 18, 2026, in a federal courthouse in Oakland. Béjar testified before the Senate in 2023 that the company knew about harms its platforms caused to children and teens, but failed to act. (Vicki Behringer for KQED)\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Meta has repeatedly denied that its platforms are responsible for this harm. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>The company’s lead attorney, Paul Schmidt, told the court during his opening statement that Meta doesn’t deny that “some teens struggle to manage their time on social media, and some people “post negative things.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>“That’s something Meta takes seriously, and tries to act on,” he said. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>He said the whistleblower accounts and data shared by the states lacked context and were needles picked out of the haystack of employee and user statements over many years. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>According to one internal report, one in five teens said Instagram made them feel worse about themselves, a statistic O’Neill quoted in her opening statement before the advisory jury in Oakland. Schmidt said that the same report noted 40% of those surveyed said they felt better, and 41% felt no different. In other internal documents, employees discussed making a product that “intentionally promotes wellbeing.”\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Schmidt also said there are “real challenges in verifying age,” but that Meta has always required users to be at least 13, and has more recently developed detection tools to identify accounts belonging to children. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Meta said in a statement that it was “confident the evidence will show our longstanding commitment to supporting young people,” but parents and advocates at the courthouse on Tuesday said they believe the company will be held accountable in the coming weeks. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>“We’re going to make history here,” said Erin Popolo, whose daughter Emily died by suicide after being cyberbullied and harassed. “This is going to be a groundbreaking trial. They’re going to be found liable for what they are doing to people.”\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>The trial is expected to go on for weeks and feature testimony from high-level Meta executives, including founder Mark Zuckerberg, who wasn’t present in the courtroom on Tuesday, as well as state health and education officials.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>The jury will provide an advisory verdict, but Judge Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers — who has a track record of presiding over blockbuster tech industry cases, including this spring’s trial between \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12081290/how-to-unscramble-an-omelet-in-silicon-valley-the-musk-v-altman-trial-that-will-try\">Sam Altman and Elon Musk\u003c/a> — will decide the civil penalties and any changes Meta will be required to make, if it is found liable.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>[ad floatright]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Meta, one of the largest, most powerful companies in the world, carried out a campaign to deceive, to mislead its users, legislators, teachers and parents,” O’Neill said. “At the end of this trial, we’re going to ask you to hold Meta accountable.”\u003c/p>\n\n",
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cfigure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\">\u003cimg src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/08/MetaTrialSketch1_VB-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-12095798\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/08/MetaTrialSketch1_VB-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/08/MetaTrialSketch1_VB-KQED-160x90.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/08/MetaTrialSketch1_VB-KQED-1536x864.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/08/MetaTrialSketch1_VB-KQED-1200x675.jpg 1200w\" sizes=\"(min-width: 992px) min(100vw, 1536px), (min-width: 768px) min(100vw, 1280px), min(100vw, 1020px)\" />\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">California Deputy Attorney General Megan O’Neill delivered her opening statement in the state’s case against Meta on Aug. 18, 2026, in Oakland. O’Neill accused Meta of hiding its own research that showed children were being harmed by its platforms. Opening arguments began Tuesday in the federal suit brought by four attorneys general against Meta.\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n",
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>“We are not here to hold Meta responsible for the fact that there are bad people out there who post bad things that may harm kids,” O’Neill said. “We are holding Meta responsible for its own conduct. What Meta said and didn’t say, what Meta did and didn’t do. The choices that Meta made.”\u003c/p>\n",
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>“Coco was 12 when she opened Instagram for the first time in 2017, four years before the world learned what Meta already knew: Instagram was harming teenage girls,” mom Julianna Arnold said outside the Oakland courtroom. There, advocates gathered to pay tribute to nearly 400 deceased young people who were allegedly lured into sexual exploitation through Facebook, or served content that made them feel worse about themselves and their bodies.\u003c/p>\n",
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>“By her teens, [Coco] could not look away. Her scrolling became depression, then anxiety she couldn’t escape,” Arnold said.\u003c/p>\n",
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>“Meta, one of the largest, most powerful companies in the world, carried out a campaign to deceive, to mislead its users, legislators, teachers and parents,” O’Neill said. “At the end of this trial, we’re going to ask you to hold Meta accountable.”\u003c/p>\n",
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"excerpt": "California and other states allege that the company hid its social media addiction research to protect its bottom line, which Meta disputes.",
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"title": "‘Meta Hooked Kids’: Federal Trial Against Tech Giant Kicks Off in Oakland | KQED",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>A \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12094595/meta-faces-up-to-1-4-trillion-reckoning-as-youth-addiction-trial-opens-in-oakland\">landmark trial against Meta\u003c/a> opened in Oakland on Tuesday, with California leading a coalition of states accusing the largest social media company in the world of knowingly designing its products in ways that could harm children.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>“What you’re going to hear in this trial is how Meta hooked kids on its platforms. How it designed those platforms so that kids kept coming back,” Megan O’Neill, a deputy attorney general for California, told the court during her opening statement on Tuesday morning. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>“Meta had its own research showing how kids had bad, even traumatic, experiences on its apps,” O’Neill said. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>If the states succeed, Meta could be held liable for up to $1.4 trillion in damages — roughly what the company is worth on Wall Street — and required to make changes to how it runs Instagram and Facebook platforms.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cfigure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1125\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/08/MetaTrialSketch1_VB-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-12095798\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/08/MetaTrialSketch1_VB-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/08/MetaTrialSketch1_VB-KQED-160x90.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/08/MetaTrialSketch1_VB-KQED-1536x864.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/08/MetaTrialSketch1_VB-KQED-1200x675.jpg 1200w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">California Deputy Attorney General Megan O’Neill delivered her opening statement in the state’s case against Meta on Aug. 18, 2026, in Oakland. O’Neill accused Meta of hiding its own research that showed children were being harmed by its platforms. Opening arguments began Tuesday in the federal suit brought by four attorneys general against Meta. (Vicki Behringer for KQED)\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>In recent years, Meta and other social media companies have been slammed with thousands of lawsuits brought by families and school districts, claiming social media addiction has harmed children’s mental health.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Over several decades, the companies have been able to defeat many lawsuits, arguing federal law protects platforms from being held liable for the content users publish on their sites. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>But states, school districts and individuals have begun employing a different strategy that led to Meta losses in district courts in Los Angeles and New Mexico in recent years: arguing that social media platforms like Meta have deliberately engineered products to be addictive, even or especially for children, and misled the public about their behavior and the risks in order to make money and increase its customer base. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Tens of millions of teens and children under 13 have Instagram and Facebook accounts, earning Meta ad revenue and allowing it to harvest emails, phone numbers, images of kids’ faces and other personal information.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>“Time and time again, profits won,” O’Neill said. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>The federal suit — brought by the attorneys general of California, Colorado, Kentucky and New Jersey and joined by 29 others, whose cases will go to trial at a later time — argues that Meta built features that it knew would hook young people and did little to remove children under 13 from its platforms, while telling parents and regulators otherwise. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\u003cp>“We are not here to hold Meta responsible for the fact that there are bad people out there who post bad things that may harm kids,” O’Neill said. “We are holding Meta responsible for its own conduct. What Meta said and didn’t say, what Meta did and didn’t do. The choices that Meta made.”\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Internal company documents and whistleblowers, including Arturo Béjar, the former leader of Integrity and Care Facebook, have revealed that Instagram aimed to increase the minutes that teen users spent on their platform each year, and that the company hid its own research showing the negative impacts its apps had on teens. The company also knew, they allege, that millions of children under the age of 13, barred from Facebook and Instagram in the company’s terms and conditions, were users. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Béjar testified that the company “has taken a ‘Don’t ask, don’t tell’ approach” to children under 13 using its platforms.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>“Coco was 12 when she opened Instagram for the first time in 2017, four years before the world learned what Meta already knew: Instagram was harming teenage girls,” mom Julianna Arnold said outside the Oakland courtroom. There, advocates gathered to pay tribute to nearly 400 deceased young people who were allegedly lured into sexual exploitation through Facebook, or served content that made them feel worse about themselves and their bodies.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>“By her teens, [Coco] could not look away. Her scrolling became depression, then anxiety she couldn’t escape,” Arnold said.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>She said her daughter was groomed by a man on Instagram, who sold her what she thought was Percocet, but turned out to be a fatal dose of fentanyl, when she was 17. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>“Coco’s story was not an accident. We know it was the predictable outcome of a platform Meta knew harmed children,” Arnold said. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cfigure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1125\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/08/MetaTrialSketch3_VB-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-12095855\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/08/MetaTrialSketch3_VB-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/08/MetaTrialSketch3_VB-KQED-160x90.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/08/MetaTrialSketch3_VB-KQED-1536x864.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/08/MetaTrialSketch3_VB-KQED-1200x675.jpg 1200w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">Arturo Béjar, a security consultant who formerly worked for Meta, testified on Aug. 18, 2026, in a federal courthouse in Oakland. Béjar testified before the Senate in 2023 that the company knew about harms its platforms caused to children and teens, but failed to act. (Vicki Behringer for KQED)\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Meta has repeatedly denied that its platforms are responsible for this harm. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>The company’s lead attorney, Paul Schmidt, told the court during his opening statement that Meta doesn’t deny that “some teens struggle to manage their time on social media, and some people “post negative things.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>“That’s something Meta takes seriously, and tries to act on,” he said. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>He said the whistleblower accounts and data shared by the states lacked context and were needles picked out of the haystack of employee and user statements over many years. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>According to one internal report, one in five teens said Instagram made them feel worse about themselves, a statistic O’Neill quoted in her opening statement before the advisory jury in Oakland. Schmidt said that the same report noted 40% of those surveyed said they felt better, and 41% felt no different. In other internal documents, employees discussed making a product that “intentionally promotes wellbeing.”\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Schmidt also said there are “real challenges in verifying age,” but that Meta has always required users to be at least 13, and has more recently developed detection tools to identify accounts belonging to children. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Meta said in a statement that it was “confident the evidence will show our longstanding commitment to supporting young people,” but parents and advocates at the courthouse on Tuesday said they believe the company will be held accountable in the coming weeks. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>“We’re going to make history here,” said Erin Popolo, whose daughter Emily died by suicide after being cyberbullied and harassed. “This is going to be a groundbreaking trial. They’re going to be found liable for what they are doing to people.”\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>The trial is expected to go on for weeks and feature testimony from high-level Meta executives, including founder Mark Zuckerberg, who wasn’t present in the courtroom on Tuesday, as well as state health and education officials.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>The jury will provide an advisory verdict, but Judge Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers — who has a track record of presiding over blockbuster tech industry cases, including this spring’s trial between \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12081290/how-to-unscramble-an-omelet-in-silicon-valley-the-musk-v-altman-trial-that-will-try\">Sam Altman and Elon Musk\u003c/a> — will decide the civil penalties and any changes Meta will be required to make, if it is found liable.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"slug": "aisha-wahab-to-file-fec-complaint-over-alleged-election-interference-in-race-for-swalwell-seat",
"title": "Aisha Wahab to File FEC Complaint Over Alleged Election Interference in Race for Swalwell Seat",
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"headTitle": "Aisha Wahab to File FEC Complaint Over Alleged Election Interference in Race for Swalwell Seat | KQED",
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"content": "\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12085551/aisha-wahab-leading-race-for-swalwells-former-congressional-seat\">State Sen. Aisha Wahab\u003c/a>, D-Hayward, said Wednesday she plans to file a complaint with the Federal Election Commission over what she called election interference on social media, as groups associated with the American Israel Public Affairs Committee spend millions to crush her bid to replace Eric Swalwell in Congress. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>The Aug. 18 special election between Wahab and Melissa Hernandez, fellow Democrat and BART board president, has become a priority for pro-Israel interests, with over $5 million in outside money spent on advertisements opposing Wahab and championing Hernandez in the final days of the race, according to \u003ca href=\"https://www.politico.com/newsletters/california-playbook/2026/08/06/aisha-wahab-aipacs-latest-target-01026765\">\u003cem>Politico\u003c/em>\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Wahab said the fight has now moved online, where her team alleges social media platforms are being weaponized to spread false information. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cfigure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/10/EricSwalwellGetty1.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-12007576\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/10/EricSwalwellGetty1.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/10/EricSwalwellGetty1-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/10/EricSwalwellGetty1-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/10/EricSwalwellGetty1-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/10/EricSwalwellGetty1-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/10/EricSwalwellGetty1-1920x1280.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">Eric Swalwell, D-Dublin, speaks at a press conference on committee assignments for the 118th U.S. Congress at the U.S. Capitol Building on Jan. 25, 2023, in Washington, D.C. (Kevin Dietsch/Getty Images)\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>“What we are seeing is a surge of suspicious accounts, bot-like activity, and very much coordinated to say the same vile, misleading narratives,” she said at a press conference outside Hayward City Hall on Wednesday. “A lot of these accounts have one friend and three posts that have no connection to the district.”\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Wahab, the first Muslim woman and Afghan American elected to the state Legislature, is no stranger to hateful comments on her social media posts. But campaign spokesperson Joe Macaluso said her team has noticed a new pattern of defamatory posts. Unlike the fear-mongering Islamaphobic content they’ve come to expect, these make specific false claims, like a reference to Wahab assaulting a former staffer. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Outright lies,” Macaluso said.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Wahab stopped short of blaming any particular group, but her campaign has collected examples of the comments and is finalizing a request to Meta to analyze the activity, according to Macaluso. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>He said the team will simultaneously file a complaint with the FEC, asking it to investigate whether the activity is part of an organized, paid effort to influence the election that should have been reported under federal campaign-finance law.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Meta did not immediately respond to a request for comment. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>The Wahab campaign’s complaint comes as campaign-finance allegations are flying in both directions in the race. Alameda County Supervisor Nate Miley earlier this month \u003ca href=\"https://drive.google.com/file/d/1uplzCZUVFri8yw3n51x6Z6CBWrP0Vl_G/view?usp=sharing\">filed a separate FEC complaint\u003c/a> accusing Wahab of receiving an illegal, unreported in-kind contribution after her state Senate campaign gave $60,000 to the Alameda County Democratic Party, which later launched an independent expenditure supporting her. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>“I would consider that money laundering,” Miley said at a press conference put on by the Hernandez campaign Friday. “I must admit I’ve never seen a money trail this brazen…. Our district deserves better leadership.”\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>In a statement, Wahab called the complaint “a political stunt and transparent retribution…I called attention to failures Miley would rather keep buried: a $12 million settlement over the preventable death of Sophia Mason, state intervention in Alameda County’s child welfare system, an independent audit, and SB 1193 to rein in politicians’ discretionary slush funds.”\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>In a \u003ca href=\"https://www.instagram.com/p/Db_tvpVmcE9/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link&igsh=NTc4MTIwNjQ2YQ==\">statement posted to Instagram\u003c/a>, the Alameda County Democratic Central Committee denied wrongdoing, writing “As is routine for county central committees, every election cycle, the ACDCC works to support candidates and measures we have endorsed, and our work is independently directed.”\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Hernandez’s campaign situates Miley’s complaint within a broader argument that Wahab’s criticisms of AIPAC’s spending are hypocritical. “Senator Wahab has spent this entire campaign attacking Melissa over who funds her campaign, so let’s talk about who funds Senator Wahab’s campaign,” Alameda County Supervisor David Haubert said at Friday’s event, lambasting her for taking donations from the pharmaceutical and fossil fuel industries. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>“She cashes those checks, she lectures us about corruption,” he said.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>In a statement Wednesday, Hernandez said: “Our campaign is getting hit by bots too, likely from her wealthy corporate donors. We’re not launching bots. We’re winning votes from voters who are comparing our records.” \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Wahab handily beat Hernandez in the June primary, but outside spending has since poured in, turning up the intensity of the race in its final stretch. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cfigure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"2560\" height=\"1707\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/08/GettyImages-2288364439-scaled.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-12094275\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/08/GettyImages-2288364439-scaled.jpg 2560w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/08/GettyImages-2288364439-2000x1334.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/08/GettyImages-2288364439-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/08/GettyImages-2288364439-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/08/GettyImages-2288364439-2048x1366.jpg 2048w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2560px) 100vw, 2560px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">U.S. Democratic Senate candidate from Michigan, Abdul El-Sayed, called for Democratic unity on Wednesday after narrowly defeating the party establishment’s candidate in Michigan and claiming the nomination for one of November’s most important US Senate races. (Jeff Kowalsky / AFP via Getty Images)\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>That includes $1.2 million from the United Democracy Project, which is backed by AIPAC, and $2.1 million from Bold American Pac, according to \u003cem>Politico\u003c/em>’s reporting. Bold America has received significant financial backing from the United Democracy Project, according to the PAC’s FEC \u003ca href=\"https://www.fec.gov/data/receipts/?committee_id=C00854299&two_year_transaction_period=2026&data_type=processed\">filings\u003c/a>. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Wahab’s team is emphasizing AIPAC’s role in the campaign, following the playbook of progressive Democrat Abdul El-Sayed, who won the Michigan Senate primary this week in part by criticizing AIPAC’s colossal spending against him. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>“I’ve been attacked before, I’ve been threatened before,” Wahab told supporters. “I didn’t back down then, and I don’t plan to back down now.”\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Regardless of the outcome of the Aug. 18 special election, Hernandez and Wahab will face off again in the November contest for the district’s full congressional term.\u003c/p>\n\n",
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12085551/aisha-wahab-leading-race-for-swalwells-former-congressional-seat\">State Sen. Aisha Wahab\u003c/a>, D-Hayward, said Wednesday she plans to file a complaint with the Federal Election Commission over what she called election interference on social media, as groups associated with the American Israel Public Affairs Committee spend millions to crush her bid to replace Eric Swalwell in Congress. \u003c/p>\n",
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>The Aug. 18 special election between Wahab and Melissa Hernandez, fellow Democrat and BART board president, has become a priority for pro-Israel interests, with over $5 million in outside money spent on advertisements opposing Wahab and championing Hernandez in the final days of the race, according to \u003ca href=\"https://www.politico.com/newsletters/california-playbook/2026/08/06/aisha-wahab-aipacs-latest-target-01026765\">\u003cem>Politico\u003c/em>\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n",
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>Wahab said the fight has now moved online, where her team alleges social media platforms are being weaponized to spread false information. \u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>Wahab said the fight has now moved online, where her team alleges social media platforms are being weaponized to spread false information. \u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cfigure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\">\u003cimg src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/10/EricSwalwellGetty1.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-12007576\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/10/EricSwalwellGetty1.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/10/EricSwalwellGetty1-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/10/EricSwalwellGetty1-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/10/EricSwalwellGetty1-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/10/EricSwalwellGetty1-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/10/EricSwalwellGetty1-1920x1280.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(min-width: 992px) min(100vw, 1536px), (min-width: 768px) min(100vw, 1280px), min(100vw, 1020px)\" />\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">Eric Swalwell, D-Dublin, speaks at a press conference on committee assignments for the 118th U.S. Congress at the U.S. Capitol Building on Jan. 25, 2023, in Washington, D.C.\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n",
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>“What we are seeing is a surge of suspicious accounts, bot-like activity, and very much coordinated to say the same vile, misleading narratives,” she said at a press conference outside Hayward City Hall on Wednesday. “A lot of these accounts have one friend and three posts that have no connection to the district.”\u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>“What we are seeing is a surge of suspicious accounts, bot-like activity, and very much coordinated to say the same vile, misleading narratives,” she said at a press conference outside Hayward City Hall on Wednesday. “A lot of these accounts have one friend and three posts that have no connection to the district.”\u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>Wahab, the first Muslim woman and Afghan American elected to the state Legislature, is no stranger to hateful comments on her social media posts. But campaign spokesperson Joe Macaluso said her team has noticed a new pattern of defamatory posts. Unlike the fear-mongering Islamaphobic content they’ve come to expect, these make specific false claims, like a reference to Wahab assaulting a former staffer. \u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>Wahab, the first Muslim woman and Afghan American elected to the state Legislature, is no stranger to hateful comments on her social media posts. But campaign spokesperson Joe Macaluso said her team has noticed a new pattern of defamatory posts. Unlike the fear-mongering Islamaphobic content they’ve come to expect, these make specific false claims, like a reference to Wahab assaulting a former staffer. \u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>“Outright lies,” Macaluso said.\u003c/p>\n",
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>Wahab stopped short of blaming any particular group, but her campaign has collected examples of the comments and is finalizing a request to Meta to analyze the activity, according to Macaluso. \u003c/p>\n",
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>He said the team will simultaneously file a complaint with the FEC, asking it to investigate whether the activity is part of an organized, paid effort to influence the election that should have been reported under federal campaign-finance law.\u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>He said the team will simultaneously file a complaint with the FEC, asking it to investigate whether the activity is part of an organized, paid effort to influence the election that should have been reported under federal campaign-finance law.\u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>The Wahab campaign’s complaint comes as campaign-finance allegations are flying in both directions in the race. Alameda County Supervisor Nate Miley earlier this month \u003ca href=\"https://drive.google.com/file/d/1uplzCZUVFri8yw3n51x6Z6CBWrP0Vl_G/view?usp=sharing\">filed a separate FEC complaint\u003c/a> accusing Wahab of receiving an illegal, unreported in-kind contribution after her state Senate campaign gave $60,000 to the Alameda County Democratic Party, which later launched an independent expenditure supporting her. \u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>The Wahab campaign’s complaint comes as campaign-finance allegations are flying in both directions in the race. Alameda County Supervisor Nate Miley earlier this month \u003ca href=\"https://drive.google.com/file/d/1uplzCZUVFri8yw3n51x6Z6CBWrP0Vl_G/view?usp=sharing\">filed a separate FEC complaint\u003c/a> accusing Wahab of receiving an illegal, unreported in-kind contribution after her state Senate campaign gave $60,000 to the Alameda County Democratic Party, which later launched an independent expenditure supporting her. \u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>“I would consider that money laundering,” Miley said at a press conference put on by the Hernandez campaign Friday. “I must admit I’ve never seen a money trail this brazen…. Our district deserves better leadership.”\u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>“I would consider that money laundering,” Miley said at a press conference put on by the Hernandez campaign Friday. “I must admit I’ve never seen a money trail this brazen…. Our district deserves better leadership.”\u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>In a statement, Wahab called the complaint “a political stunt and transparent retribution…I called attention to failures Miley would rather keep buried: a $12 million settlement over the preventable death of Sophia Mason, state intervention in Alameda County’s child welfare system, an independent audit, and SB 1193 to rein in politicians’ discretionary slush funds.”\u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>In a statement, Wahab called the complaint “a political stunt and transparent retribution…I called attention to failures Miley would rather keep buried: a $12 million settlement over the preventable death of Sophia Mason, state intervention in Alameda County’s child welfare system, an independent audit, and SB 1193 to rein in politicians’ discretionary slush funds.”\u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>In a \u003ca href=\"https://www.instagram.com/p/Db_tvpVmcE9/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link&igsh=NTc4MTIwNjQ2YQ==\">statement posted to Instagram\u003c/a>, the Alameda County Democratic Central Committee denied wrongdoing, writing “As is routine for county central committees, every election cycle, the ACDCC works to support candidates and measures we have endorsed, and our work is independently directed.”\u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>In a \u003ca href=\"https://www.instagram.com/p/Db_tvpVmcE9/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link&igsh=NTc4MTIwNjQ2YQ==\">statement posted to Instagram\u003c/a>, the Alameda County Democratic Central Committee denied wrongdoing, writing “As is routine for county central committees, every election cycle, the ACDCC works to support candidates and measures we have endorsed, and our work is independently directed.”\u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>Hernandez’s campaign situates Miley’s complaint within a broader argument that Wahab’s criticisms of AIPAC’s spending are hypocritical. “Senator Wahab has spent this entire campaign attacking Melissa over who funds her campaign, so let’s talk about who funds Senator Wahab’s campaign,” Alameda County Supervisor David Haubert said at Friday’s event, lambasting her for taking donations from the pharmaceutical and fossil fuel industries. \u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>Hernandez’s campaign situates Miley’s complaint within a broader argument that Wahab’s criticisms of AIPAC’s spending are hypocritical. “Senator Wahab has spent this entire campaign attacking Melissa over who funds her campaign, so let’s talk about who funds Senator Wahab’s campaign,” Alameda County Supervisor David Haubert said at Friday’s event, lambasting her for taking donations from the pharmaceutical and fossil fuel industries. \u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>“She cashes those checks, she lectures us about corruption,” he said.\u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>“She cashes those checks, she lectures us about corruption,” he said.\u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>In a statement Wednesday, Hernandez said: “Our campaign is getting hit by bots too, likely from her wealthy corporate donors. We’re not launching bots. We’re winning votes from voters who are comparing our records.” \u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>In a statement Wednesday, Hernandez said: “Our campaign is getting hit by bots too, likely from her wealthy corporate donors. We’re not launching bots. We’re winning votes from voters who are comparing our records.” \u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>Wahab handily beat Hernandez in the June primary, but outside spending has since poured in, turning up the intensity of the race in its final stretch. \u003c/p>\n",
"innerContent": [
"\n\u003cp>Wahab handily beat Hernandez in the June primary, but outside spending has since poured in, turning up the intensity of the race in its final stretch. \u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>That includes $1.2 million from the United Democracy Project, which is backed by AIPAC, and $2.1 million from Bold American Pac, according to \u003cem>Politico\u003c/em>’s reporting. Bold America has received significant financial backing from the United Democracy Project, according to the PAC’s FEC \u003ca href=\"https://www.fec.gov/data/receipts/?committee_id=C00854299&two_year_transaction_period=2026&data_type=processed\">filings\u003c/a>. \u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>That includes $1.2 million from the United Democracy Project, which is backed by AIPAC, and $2.1 million from Bold American Pac, according to \u003cem>Politico\u003c/em>’s reporting. Bold America has received significant financial backing from the United Democracy Project, according to the PAC’s FEC \u003ca href=\"https://www.fec.gov/data/receipts/?committee_id=C00854299&two_year_transaction_period=2026&data_type=processed\">filings\u003c/a>. \u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>Wahab’s team is emphasizing AIPAC’s role in the campaign, following the playbook of progressive Democrat Abdul El-Sayed, who won the Michigan Senate primary this week in part by criticizing AIPAC’s colossal spending against him. \u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>Wahab’s team is emphasizing AIPAC’s role in the campaign, following the playbook of progressive Democrat Abdul El-Sayed, who won the Michigan Senate primary this week in part by criticizing AIPAC’s colossal spending against him. \u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>“I’ve been attacked before, I’ve been threatened before,” Wahab told supporters. “I didn’t back down then, and I don’t plan to back down now.”\u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>“I’ve been attacked before, I’ve been threatened before,” Wahab told supporters. “I didn’t back down then, and I don’t plan to back down now.”\u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>Regardless of the outcome of the Aug. 18 special election, Hernandez and Wahab will face off again in the November contest for the district’s full congressional term.\u003c/p>\n",
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"excerpt": "Groups affiliated with the pro-Israel lobby organization AIPAC have poured millions into attack ads against Wahab, who is campaigning for the vacant East Bay congressional seat formerly held by Eric Swalwell. ",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12085551/aisha-wahab-leading-race-for-swalwells-former-congressional-seat\">State Sen. Aisha Wahab\u003c/a>, D-Hayward, said Wednesday she plans to file a complaint with the Federal Election Commission over what she called election interference on social media, as groups associated with the American Israel Public Affairs Committee spend millions to crush her bid to replace Eric Swalwell in Congress. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>The Aug. 18 special election between Wahab and Melissa Hernandez, fellow Democrat and BART board president, has become a priority for pro-Israel interests, with over $5 million in outside money spent on advertisements opposing Wahab and championing Hernandez in the final days of the race, according to \u003ca href=\"https://www.politico.com/newsletters/california-playbook/2026/08/06/aisha-wahab-aipacs-latest-target-01026765\">\u003cem>Politico\u003c/em>\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Wahab said the fight has now moved online, where her team alleges social media platforms are being weaponized to spread false information. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cfigure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/10/EricSwalwellGetty1.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-12007576\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/10/EricSwalwellGetty1.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/10/EricSwalwellGetty1-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/10/EricSwalwellGetty1-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/10/EricSwalwellGetty1-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/10/EricSwalwellGetty1-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/10/EricSwalwellGetty1-1920x1280.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">Eric Swalwell, D-Dublin, speaks at a press conference on committee assignments for the 118th U.S. Congress at the U.S. Capitol Building on Jan. 25, 2023, in Washington, D.C. (Kevin Dietsch/Getty Images)\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>“What we are seeing is a surge of suspicious accounts, bot-like activity, and very much coordinated to say the same vile, misleading narratives,” she said at a press conference outside Hayward City Hall on Wednesday. “A lot of these accounts have one friend and three posts that have no connection to the district.”\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Wahab, the first Muslim woman and Afghan American elected to the state Legislature, is no stranger to hateful comments on her social media posts. But campaign spokesperson Joe Macaluso said her team has noticed a new pattern of defamatory posts. Unlike the fear-mongering Islamaphobic content they’ve come to expect, these make specific false claims, like a reference to Wahab assaulting a former staffer. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Outright lies,” Macaluso said.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Wahab stopped short of blaming any particular group, but her campaign has collected examples of the comments and is finalizing a request to Meta to analyze the activity, according to Macaluso. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>He said the team will simultaneously file a complaint with the FEC, asking it to investigate whether the activity is part of an organized, paid effort to influence the election that should have been reported under federal campaign-finance law.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Meta did not immediately respond to a request for comment. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>The Wahab campaign’s complaint comes as campaign-finance allegations are flying in both directions in the race. Alameda County Supervisor Nate Miley earlier this month \u003ca href=\"https://drive.google.com/file/d/1uplzCZUVFri8yw3n51x6Z6CBWrP0Vl_G/view?usp=sharing\">filed a separate FEC complaint\u003c/a> accusing Wahab of receiving an illegal, unreported in-kind contribution after her state Senate campaign gave $60,000 to the Alameda County Democratic Party, which later launched an independent expenditure supporting her. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>“I would consider that money laundering,” Miley said at a press conference put on by the Hernandez campaign Friday. “I must admit I’ve never seen a money trail this brazen…. Our district deserves better leadership.”\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>In a statement, Wahab called the complaint “a political stunt and transparent retribution…I called attention to failures Miley would rather keep buried: a $12 million settlement over the preventable death of Sophia Mason, state intervention in Alameda County’s child welfare system, an independent audit, and SB 1193 to rein in politicians’ discretionary slush funds.”\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>In a \u003ca href=\"https://www.instagram.com/p/Db_tvpVmcE9/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link&igsh=NTc4MTIwNjQ2YQ==\">statement posted to Instagram\u003c/a>, the Alameda County Democratic Central Committee denied wrongdoing, writing “As is routine for county central committees, every election cycle, the ACDCC works to support candidates and measures we have endorsed, and our work is independently directed.”\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Hernandez’s campaign situates Miley’s complaint within a broader argument that Wahab’s criticisms of AIPAC’s spending are hypocritical. “Senator Wahab has spent this entire campaign attacking Melissa over who funds her campaign, so let’s talk about who funds Senator Wahab’s campaign,” Alameda County Supervisor David Haubert said at Friday’s event, lambasting her for taking donations from the pharmaceutical and fossil fuel industries. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>“She cashes those checks, she lectures us about corruption,” he said.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>In a statement Wednesday, Hernandez said: “Our campaign is getting hit by bots too, likely from her wealthy corporate donors. We’re not launching bots. We’re winning votes from voters who are comparing our records.” \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Wahab handily beat Hernandez in the June primary, but outside spending has since poured in, turning up the intensity of the race in its final stretch. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cfigure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"2560\" height=\"1707\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/08/GettyImages-2288364439-scaled.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-12094275\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/08/GettyImages-2288364439-scaled.jpg 2560w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/08/GettyImages-2288364439-2000x1334.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/08/GettyImages-2288364439-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/08/GettyImages-2288364439-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/08/GettyImages-2288364439-2048x1366.jpg 2048w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2560px) 100vw, 2560px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">U.S. Democratic Senate candidate from Michigan, Abdul El-Sayed, called for Democratic unity on Wednesday after narrowly defeating the party establishment’s candidate in Michigan and claiming the nomination for one of November’s most important US Senate races. (Jeff Kowalsky / AFP via Getty Images)\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>That includes $1.2 million from the United Democracy Project, which is backed by AIPAC, and $2.1 million from Bold American Pac, according to \u003cem>Politico\u003c/em>’s reporting. Bold America has received significant financial backing from the United Democracy Project, according to the PAC’s FEC \u003ca href=\"https://www.fec.gov/data/receipts/?committee_id=C00854299&two_year_transaction_period=2026&data_type=processed\">filings\u003c/a>. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Wahab’s team is emphasizing AIPAC’s role in the campaign, following the playbook of progressive Democrat Abdul El-Sayed, who won the Michigan Senate primary this week in part by criticizing AIPAC’s colossal spending against him. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>“I’ve been attacked before, I’ve been threatened before,” Wahab told supporters. “I didn’t back down then, and I don’t plan to back down now.”\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Regardless of the outcome of the Aug. 18 special election, Hernandez and Wahab will face off again in the November contest for the district’s full congressional term.\u003c/p>\n\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
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"slug": "meta-faces-up-to-1-4-trillion-reckoning-as-youth-addiction-trial-opens-in-oakland",
"title": "Meta Faces Up to $1.4 Trillion Reckoning as Youth-Addiction Trial Opens in Oakland",
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"headTitle": "Meta Faces Up to $1.4 Trillion Reckoning as Youth-Addiction Trial Opens in Oakland | KQED",
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"content": "\u003cp>Since the dawn of social media, \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/tag/meta\">Meta\u003c/a> and other platforms have faced lawsuits charging that the sites caused harm to their users. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>The companies have largely shielded themselves from those legal attacks, arguing they are not responsible for content published on their sites. But in the last two years, plaintiffs’ lawyers and state attorneys general have found success with a new strategy: arguing social media companies knowingly designed their products and policies in ways that could harm children. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/forum/2010101913414/addictive-social-media-is-harmful-to-youth-jury-says\">Earlier this year,\u003c/a> Meta attorneys faced two juries and lost in both cases. A Los Angeles jury held Meta and Google’s YouTube liable for negligent design. A New Mexico jury found the company willfully violated state consumer-protection laws. The judge \u003ca href=\"https://www.wsj.com/tech/meta-ordered-to-pay-942-million-to-address-harm-to-kids-from-social-media-8ba5aab7?mod=e2li\">ordered Meta to pay $942 million\u003c/a> and change how its products work for young users in that state. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Starting this week in Oakland, the company faces its biggest challenge yet, when a federal trial brought by \u003ca href=\"https://oag.ca.gov/news/press-releases/attorney-general-bonta-files-lawsuit-against-meta-over-harms-youth-mental-health\">four state attorneys general\u003c/a> goes before Judge Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers. California, Colorado, Kentucky and New Jersey argue Meta built features it knew would hook young users, and kept children under 13 on its platforms because they were valuable future customers, while claiming otherwise to parents and regulators. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cfigure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/04/230816-Dublin-Womens-Prison-Suit-MD-01_qed.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-12037105\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/04/230816-Dublin-Womens-Prison-Suit-MD-01_qed.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/04/230816-Dublin-Womens-Prison-Suit-MD-01_qed-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/04/230816-Dublin-Womens-Prison-Suit-MD-01_qed-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/04/230816-Dublin-Womens-Prison-Suit-MD-01_qed-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/04/230816-Dublin-Womens-Prison-Suit-MD-01_qed-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/04/230816-Dublin-Womens-Prison-Suit-MD-01_qed-1920x1280.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">The Federal Courthouse in Oakland on Aug. 16, 2023. (Martin do Nascimento/KQED)\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>In a statement released Tuesday, a Meta spokesperson wrote, “We strongly disagree with these allegations and are confident the evidence will show our longstanding commitment to supporting young people. We’ve listened to parents, worked with experts and law enforcement, and conducted in-depth research to understand the issues that matter most. We’re proud of the progress we’ve made, and we’re always working to do better.”\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In pre-trial documents, the states have calculated Meta \u003ca href=\"https://www.courtlistener.com/docket/67908468/465/5/people-of-the-state-of-california-v-meta-platforms-inc/\">could owe $1.4 trillion\u003c/a>, roughly as much as the company is worth on Wall Street. Legal observers say that demand is not expected to survive the trial or the appeal likely to follow, but money is not the only demand. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>The states also want the court to order Meta to redesign its platforms to alter some of the very features that have made its products \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11965392/us-states-sue-meta-for-addictive-apps-fueling-youth-mental-health-crisis\">sticky enough\u003c/a> to attract \u003ca href=\"https://investor.atmeta.com/investor-news/press-release-details/2026/Meta-Reports-Second-Quarter-2026-Results/default.aspx\">3.6 billion people\u003c/a> around the globe.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>“You’re talking about platforms that were never designed for kids to begin with,” said Dr. Jen King, privacy and data policy fellow at the Stanford Institute for Human-Centered Artificial Intelligence. “So every feature there is really around engaging adults, designed to engage adults, without much thought to what would be developmentally appropriate design.”\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Internal documents released by \u003ca href=\"https://www.npr.org/2023/11/07/1211339737/meta-failed-to-address-harm-to-teens-whistleblower-testifies-as-senators-vow-act\">whistleblowers\u003c/a> have revealed that Meta’s own research showed how their site’s features could be harmful to teens, and that the company didn’t change course. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Meta has always officially required Facebook and Instagram users to be at least 13 years old, in conformity with federal law. It was not until September of 2024 that the company launched \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12084499/momfluencers-for-hire-metas-campaign-to-reshape-its-child-safety-image-faces-scrutiny\">age-appropriate versions\u003c/a> of Instagram for users ages 13 to 17, with content filters, screen time limits and parental supervision tools. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Meta has long been able to tell when users are underage, King said. “Even if they’ve lied about their age, it’s usually easy to tell by who they’re friends with, or what their activities are, what they like.” She said that internal documents demonstrate Meta platforms actually encouraged underage users, “because that’s their future user base.”\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>The outcome of the Oakland case has the potential to drive a stake through the heart of not just Meta, but social media at large, according to Eric Goldman, associate dean for research and professor at Santa Clara University School of Law.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>“These lawsuits are really existential in nature. The stakes here are about whether or not players can even exist in the industry,” he told KQED. $1.4 trillion, even if the plaintiffs downsize their demand during the trial, is “a very powerful statement, and from my perspective, a chilling statement,” he said.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>In Meta’s most recent \u003ca href=\"https://investor.atmeta.com/investor-news/press-release-details/2026/Meta-Reports-Second-Quarter-2026-Results/default.aspx\">earnings report\u003c/a>, CFO Susan Li said, “We continue to see scrutiny on youth-related issues in several markets and have a number of youth-related trials scheduled for this year in the U.S., which may ultimately result in a material loss.”\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cfigure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/05/TeenagersMetaSocialMediaGetty.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-12084574\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/05/TeenagersMetaSocialMediaGetty.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/05/TeenagersMetaSocialMediaGetty-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/05/TeenagersMetaSocialMediaGetty-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">A 14-year-old boy holds an iPhone with various social media and messaging apps on Feb. 23, 2026. (Anna Barclay/Getty Images)\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Since \u003ca href=\"https://www.npr.org/2025/12/10/nx-s1-5639694/social-media-ban-children-australia\">Australia barred children under 16\u003c/a> from using social media in 2025, more than two dozen countries have enacted bans or begun considering similar restrictions. While the Trump administration appears unlikely to follow suit, several states are moving forward on their own.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>California lawmakers are weighing \u003ca href=\"https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billTextClient.xhtml?bill_id=202520260AB1709\">AB 1709\u003c/a>, which would bar social media companies from serving addictive features to users under 16, and create an online safety commission inside the Department of Justice to advise the attorney general on enforcing it. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Meanwhile, social media companies are fighting thousands of lawsuits brought by individuals, school districts and states, with much of that litigation consolidated into large court cases in California. The \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/forum/2010101913414/addictive-social-media-is-harmful-to-youth-jury-says\">first to reach a jury\u003c/a> was brought by a young woman identified as K.G.M.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>In May, \u003ca href=\"https://apnews.com/article/meta-school-lawsuit-settlement-tiktok-snap-b20cdfe88dbcb55fb14808fe7f9c7372\">\u003c/a>Meta settled a suit brought by a \u003ca href=\"https://apnews.com/article/meta-school-lawsuit-settlement-tiktok-snap-b20cdfe88dbcb55fb14808fe7f9c7372\">Kentucky school district\u003c/a>. This month, a teenage plaintiff \u003ca href=\"https://www.reuters.com/world/teen-plaintiff-suing-meta-over-mental-health-harms-drops-his-claims-against-2026-07-22/\">dropped his suit\u003c/a> against Meta after settling with co-defendants YouTube, Snap and TikTok. Meta said it would continue to fight “baseless” lawsuits, noting the evidence showed the plaintiff in that case averaged just minutes a day on Facebook and Instagram, and he created most accounts only after hiring a lawyer.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Meta has expressed willingness to work with the states to make its products safer while calling the damage request of more than $1 trillion a “staggering” figure. “A sanction of that size has no analog in the history of consumer protection enforcement,” the company said in a \u003ca href=\"https://ecf.cand.uscourts.gov/doc1/035027386042?caseid=419868\">filing\u003c/a> in Oakland.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cfigure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1920\" height=\"1281\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2019/12/cellphone-1920.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-11789507\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2019/12/cellphone-1920.jpg 1920w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2019/12/cellphone-1920-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2019/12/cellphone-1920-800x534.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2019/12/cellphone-1920-1020x681.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2019/12/cellphone-1920-1200x801.jpg 1200w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">California, Colorado, Kentucky and New Jersey argue Meta built features it knew would hook young users, and kept children under 13 on its platforms because they were valuable future customers, while claiming otherwise to parents and regulators. (Chandan Khanna/AFP via Getty Images)\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Gonzalez Rogers has shown an appetite for taking on complex Silicon Valley court cases. In April, she presided over Musk v. Altman et al, showing no hesitation in keeping witnesses and lawyers in check, and carefully pruning the focus of the trial. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Legal analysts saw many of her moves as strategic, designed to avoid a sprawling trial that could have lasted for months. Close readings of her pre-trial rulings also hinted that she viewed Elon Musk’s claims with \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12082428/inside-sam-altman-and-elon-musks-battle-over-openai\">more than a dollop of skepticism\u003c/a>. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Goldman said he sees evidence the judge is already leaning against Meta. “What has stood out to me is that the defendants just cannot get a break with this judge. Everything they’re arguing is just bouncing right off of her.” \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Meta gave the judge seven arguments for throwing out the deception claims, including that social media addiction doesn’t exist and can’t be proven. Gonzalez Rogers \u003ca href=\"https://oag.ca.gov/news/press-releases/attorney-general-bonta-secures-court-decision-largely-denying-meta%E2%80%99s-attempt\">rejected all of them\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Meta also said that federal children’s privacy law doesn’t apply, because Facebook and Instagram are built for general audiences and the company doesn’t know which users are under 13. Gonzalez Rogers sent that question to the jury, finding that children “at least partially” could be targets of the platforms.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cfigure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/08/TeenAIGetty.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-12094089\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/08/TeenAIGetty.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/08/TeenAIGetty-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/08/TeenAIGetty-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">Four states, including California, say Meta built Facebook and Instagram to hook kids and hid what it knew. (Fiordaliso/Getty Images)\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Gonzalez Rogers has demonstrated pre-trial skepticism of both sides. She characterized the states’ proposed penalties as \u003ca href=\"https://www.law360.com/articles/2502815/judge-decries-extreme-penalty-bids-in-social-media-mdl\">extreme\u003c/a>, while also noting that Meta’s counterproposal of $4 million was underwhelming for a business of its size.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Meta has said much of the litigation is attempting to fix a multi-faceted societal issue but wouldn’t effectively stop young people from using other types of social media, let alone its own.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>But King at Stanford said Meta and other social media companies are being challenged in court because they have \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11905230/do-federal-lawmakers-have-the-stomach-to-rein-in-big-tech\">effectively shut down\u003c/a> most efforts at state and federal regulation. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>[ad floatright]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The types of heavy-handed policy instruments we are seeing floated right now, the outright bans, the age gating, age verification measures, are really the result of the companies not giving any ground,” King said. “They haven’t been willing to do it, because they know that it will drastically affect their bottom line.”\u003c/p>\n\n",
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>Since the dawn of social media, \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/tag/meta\">Meta\u003c/a> and other platforms have faced lawsuits charging that the sites caused harm to their users. \u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>Since the dawn of social media, \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/tag/meta\">Meta\u003c/a> and other platforms have faced lawsuits charging that the sites caused harm to their users. \u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>The companies have largely shielded themselves from those legal attacks, arguing they are not responsible for content published on their sites. But in the last two years, plaintiffs’ lawyers and state attorneys general have found success with a new strategy: arguing social media companies knowingly designed their products and policies in ways that could harm children. \u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>The companies have largely shielded themselves from those legal attacks, arguing they are not responsible for content published on their sites. But in the last two years, plaintiffs’ lawyers and state attorneys general have found success with a new strategy: arguing social media companies knowingly designed their products and policies in ways that could harm children. \u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/forum/2010101913414/addictive-social-media-is-harmful-to-youth-jury-says\">Earlier this year,\u003c/a> Meta attorneys faced two juries and lost in both cases. A Los Angeles jury held Meta and Google’s YouTube liable for negligent design. A New Mexico jury found the company willfully violated state consumer-protection laws. The judge \u003ca href=\"https://www.wsj.com/tech/meta-ordered-to-pay-942-million-to-address-harm-to-kids-from-social-media-8ba5aab7?mod=e2li\">ordered Meta to pay $942 million\u003c/a> and change how its products work for young users in that state. \u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/forum/2010101913414/addictive-social-media-is-harmful-to-youth-jury-says\">Earlier this year,\u003c/a> Meta attorneys faced two juries and lost in both cases. A Los Angeles jury held Meta and Google’s YouTube liable for negligent design. A New Mexico jury found the company willfully violated state consumer-protection laws. The judge \u003ca href=\"https://www.wsj.com/tech/meta-ordered-to-pay-942-million-to-address-harm-to-kids-from-social-media-8ba5aab7?mod=e2li\">ordered Meta to pay $942 million\u003c/a> and change how its products work for young users in that state. \u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>Starting this week in Oakland, the company faces its biggest challenge yet, when a federal trial brought by \u003ca href=\"https://oag.ca.gov/news/press-releases/attorney-general-bonta-files-lawsuit-against-meta-over-harms-youth-mental-health\">four state attorneys general\u003c/a> goes before Judge Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers. California, Colorado, Kentucky and New Jersey argue Meta built features it knew would hook young users, and kept children under 13 on its platforms because they were valuable future customers, while claiming otherwise to parents and regulators. \u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>Starting this week in Oakland, the company faces its biggest challenge yet, when a federal trial brought by \u003ca href=\"https://oag.ca.gov/news/press-releases/attorney-general-bonta-files-lawsuit-against-meta-over-harms-youth-mental-health\">four state attorneys general\u003c/a> goes before Judge Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers. California, Colorado, Kentucky and New Jersey argue Meta built features it knew would hook young users, and kept children under 13 on its platforms because they were valuable future customers, while claiming otherwise to parents and regulators. \u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>In a statement released Tuesday, a Meta spokesperson wrote, “We strongly disagree with these allegations and are confident the evidence will show our longstanding commitment to supporting young people. We’ve listened to parents, worked with experts and law enforcement, and conducted in-depth research to understand the issues that matter most. We’re proud of the progress we’ve made, and we’re always working to do better.”\u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>In a statement released Tuesday, a Meta spokesperson wrote, “We strongly disagree with these allegations and are confident the evidence will show our longstanding commitment to supporting young people. We’ve listened to parents, worked with experts and law enforcement, and conducted in-depth research to understand the issues that matter most. We’re proud of the progress we’ve made, and we’re always working to do better.”\u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>In pre-trial documents, the states have calculated Meta \u003ca href=\"https://www.courtlistener.com/docket/67908468/465/5/people-of-the-state-of-california-v-meta-platforms-inc/\">could owe $1.4 trillion\u003c/a>, roughly as much as the company is worth on Wall Street. Legal observers say that demand is not expected to survive the trial or the appeal likely to follow, but money is not the only demand. \u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>In pre-trial documents, the states have calculated Meta \u003ca href=\"https://www.courtlistener.com/docket/67908468/465/5/people-of-the-state-of-california-v-meta-platforms-inc/\">could owe $1.4 trillion\u003c/a>, roughly as much as the company is worth on Wall Street. Legal observers say that demand is not expected to survive the trial or the appeal likely to follow, but money is not the only demand. \u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>The states also want the court to order Meta to redesign its platforms to alter some of the very features that have made its products \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11965392/us-states-sue-meta-for-addictive-apps-fueling-youth-mental-health-crisis\">sticky enough\u003c/a> to attract \u003ca href=\"https://investor.atmeta.com/investor-news/press-release-details/2026/Meta-Reports-Second-Quarter-2026-Results/default.aspx\">3.6 billion people\u003c/a> around the globe.\u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>The states also want the court to order Meta to redesign its platforms to alter some of the very features that have made its products \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11965392/us-states-sue-meta-for-addictive-apps-fueling-youth-mental-health-crisis\">sticky enough\u003c/a> to attract \u003ca href=\"https://investor.atmeta.com/investor-news/press-release-details/2026/Meta-Reports-Second-Quarter-2026-Results/default.aspx\">3.6 billion people\u003c/a> around the globe.\u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>“You’re talking about platforms that were never designed for kids to begin with,” said Dr. Jen King, privacy and data policy fellow at the Stanford Institute for Human-Centered Artificial Intelligence. “So every feature there is really around engaging adults, designed to engage adults, without much thought to what would be developmentally appropriate design.”\u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>“You’re talking about platforms that were never designed for kids to begin with,” said Dr. Jen King, privacy and data policy fellow at the Stanford Institute for Human-Centered Artificial Intelligence. “So every feature there is really around engaging adults, designed to engage adults, without much thought to what would be developmentally appropriate design.”\u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>Internal documents released by \u003ca href=\"https://www.npr.org/2023/11/07/1211339737/meta-failed-to-address-harm-to-teens-whistleblower-testifies-as-senators-vow-act\">whistleblowers\u003c/a> have revealed that Meta’s own research showed how their site’s features could be harmful to teens, and that the company didn’t change course. \u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>Internal documents released by \u003ca href=\"https://www.npr.org/2023/11/07/1211339737/meta-failed-to-address-harm-to-teens-whistleblower-testifies-as-senators-vow-act\">whistleblowers\u003c/a> have revealed that Meta’s own research showed how their site’s features could be harmful to teens, and that the company didn’t change course. \u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>Meta has always officially required Facebook and Instagram users to be at least 13 years old, in conformity with federal law. It was not until September of 2024 that the company launched \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12084499/momfluencers-for-hire-metas-campaign-to-reshape-its-child-safety-image-faces-scrutiny\">age-appropriate versions\u003c/a> of Instagram for users ages 13 to 17, with content filters, screen time limits and parental supervision tools. \u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>Meta has always officially required Facebook and Instagram users to be at least 13 years old, in conformity with federal law. It was not until September of 2024 that the company launched \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12084499/momfluencers-for-hire-metas-campaign-to-reshape-its-child-safety-image-faces-scrutiny\">age-appropriate versions\u003c/a> of Instagram for users ages 13 to 17, with content filters, screen time limits and parental supervision tools. \u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>Meta has long been able to tell when users are underage, King said. “Even if they’ve lied about their age, it’s usually easy to tell by who they’re friends with, or what their activities are, what they like.” She said that internal documents demonstrate Meta platforms actually encouraged underage users, “because that’s their future user base.”\u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>Meta has long been able to tell when users are underage, King said. “Even if they’ve lied about their age, it’s usually easy to tell by who they’re friends with, or what their activities are, what they like.” She said that internal documents demonstrate Meta platforms actually encouraged underage users, “because that’s their future user base.”\u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>The outcome of the Oakland case has the potential to drive a stake through the heart of not just Meta, but social media at large, according to Eric Goldman, associate dean for research and professor at Santa Clara University School of Law.\u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>The outcome of the Oakland case has the potential to drive a stake through the heart of not just Meta, but social media at large, according to Eric Goldman, associate dean for research and professor at Santa Clara University School of Law.\u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>“These lawsuits are really existential in nature. The stakes here are about whether or not players can even exist in the industry,” he told KQED. $1.4 trillion, even if the plaintiffs downsize their demand during the trial, is “a very powerful statement, and from my perspective, a chilling statement,” he said.\u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>“These lawsuits are really existential in nature. The stakes here are about whether or not players can even exist in the industry,” he told KQED. $1.4 trillion, even if the plaintiffs downsize their demand during the trial, is “a very powerful statement, and from my perspective, a chilling statement,” he said.\u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>In Meta’s most recent \u003ca href=\"https://investor.atmeta.com/investor-news/press-release-details/2026/Meta-Reports-Second-Quarter-2026-Results/default.aspx\">earnings report\u003c/a>, CFO Susan Li said, “We continue to see scrutiny on youth-related issues in several markets and have a number of youth-related trials scheduled for this year in the U.S., which may ultimately result in a material loss.”\u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>In Meta’s most recent \u003ca href=\"https://investor.atmeta.com/investor-news/press-release-details/2026/Meta-Reports-Second-Quarter-2026-Results/default.aspx\">earnings report\u003c/a>, CFO Susan Li said, “We continue to see scrutiny on youth-related issues in several markets and have a number of youth-related trials scheduled for this year in the U.S., which may ultimately result in a material loss.”\u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>Since \u003ca href=\"https://www.npr.org/2025/12/10/nx-s1-5639694/social-media-ban-children-australia\">Australia barred children under 16\u003c/a> from using social media in 2025, more than two dozen countries have enacted bans or begun considering similar restrictions. While the Trump administration appears unlikely to follow suit, several states are moving forward on their own.\u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>Since \u003ca href=\"https://www.npr.org/2025/12/10/nx-s1-5639694/social-media-ban-children-australia\">Australia barred children under 16\u003c/a> from using social media in 2025, more than two dozen countries have enacted bans or begun considering similar restrictions. While the Trump administration appears unlikely to follow suit, several states are moving forward on their own.\u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>California lawmakers are weighing \u003ca href=\"https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billTextClient.xhtml?bill_id=202520260AB1709\">AB 1709\u003c/a>, which would bar social media companies from serving addictive features to users under 16, and create an online safety commission inside the Department of Justice to advise the attorney general on enforcing it. \u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>California lawmakers are weighing \u003ca href=\"https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billTextClient.xhtml?bill_id=202520260AB1709\">AB 1709\u003c/a>, which would bar social media companies from serving addictive features to users under 16, and create an online safety commission inside the Department of Justice to advise the attorney general on enforcing it. \u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>Meanwhile, social media companies are fighting thousands of lawsuits brought by individuals, school districts and states, with much of that litigation consolidated into large court cases in California. The \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/forum/2010101913414/addictive-social-media-is-harmful-to-youth-jury-says\">first to reach a jury\u003c/a> was brought by a young woman identified as K.G.M.\u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>Meanwhile, social media companies are fighting thousands of lawsuits brought by individuals, school districts and states, with much of that litigation consolidated into large court cases in California. The \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/forum/2010101913414/addictive-social-media-is-harmful-to-youth-jury-says\">first to reach a jury\u003c/a> was brought by a young woman identified as K.G.M.\u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>In May, \u003ca href=\"https://apnews.com/article/meta-school-lawsuit-settlement-tiktok-snap-b20cdfe88dbcb55fb14808fe7f9c7372\">\u003c/a>Meta settled a suit brought by a \u003ca href=\"https://apnews.com/article/meta-school-lawsuit-settlement-tiktok-snap-b20cdfe88dbcb55fb14808fe7f9c7372\">Kentucky school district\u003c/a>. This month, a teenage plaintiff \u003ca href=\"https://www.reuters.com/world/teen-plaintiff-suing-meta-over-mental-health-harms-drops-his-claims-against-2026-07-22/\">dropped his suit\u003c/a> against Meta after settling with co-defendants YouTube, Snap and TikTok. Meta said it would continue to fight “baseless” lawsuits, noting the evidence showed the plaintiff in that case averaged just minutes a day on Facebook and Instagram, and he created most accounts only after hiring a lawyer.\u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>In May, \u003ca href=\"https://apnews.com/article/meta-school-lawsuit-settlement-tiktok-snap-b20cdfe88dbcb55fb14808fe7f9c7372\">\u003c/a>Meta settled a suit brought by a \u003ca href=\"https://apnews.com/article/meta-school-lawsuit-settlement-tiktok-snap-b20cdfe88dbcb55fb14808fe7f9c7372\">Kentucky school district\u003c/a>. This month, a teenage plaintiff \u003ca href=\"https://www.reuters.com/world/teen-plaintiff-suing-meta-over-mental-health-harms-drops-his-claims-against-2026-07-22/\">dropped his suit\u003c/a> against Meta after settling with co-defendants YouTube, Snap and TikTok. Meta said it would continue to fight “baseless” lawsuits, noting the evidence showed the plaintiff in that case averaged just minutes a day on Facebook and Instagram, and he created most accounts only after hiring a lawyer.\u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>Meta has expressed willingness to work with the states to make its products safer while calling the damage request of more than $1 trillion a “staggering” figure. “A sanction of that size has no analog in the history of consumer protection enforcement,” the company said in a \u003ca href=\"https://ecf.cand.uscourts.gov/doc1/035027386042?caseid=419868\">filing\u003c/a> in Oakland.\u003c/p>\n",
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cfigure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\">\u003cimg src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2019/12/cellphone-1920.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-11789507\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2019/12/cellphone-1920.jpg 1920w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2019/12/cellphone-1920-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2019/12/cellphone-1920-800x534.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2019/12/cellphone-1920-1020x681.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2019/12/cellphone-1920-1200x801.jpg 1200w\" sizes=\"(min-width: 992px) min(100vw, 1536px), (min-width: 768px) min(100vw, 1280px), min(100vw, 1020px)\"/>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">California, Colorado, Kentucky and New Jersey argue Meta built features it knew would hook young users, and kept children under 13 on its platforms because they were valuable future customers, while claiming otherwise to parents and regulators. \u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n",
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>Gonzalez Rogers has shown an appetite for taking on complex Silicon Valley court cases. In April, she presided over Musk v. Altman et al, showing no hesitation in keeping witnesses and lawyers in check, and carefully pruning the focus of the trial. \u003c/p>\n",
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>Legal analysts saw many of her moves as strategic, designed to avoid a sprawling trial that could have lasted for months. Close readings of her pre-trial rulings also hinted that she viewed Elon Musk’s claims with \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12082428/inside-sam-altman-and-elon-musks-battle-over-openai\">more than a dollop of skepticism\u003c/a>. \u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>Legal analysts saw many of her moves as strategic, designed to avoid a sprawling trial that could have lasted for months. Close readings of her pre-trial rulings also hinted that she viewed Elon Musk’s claims with \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12082428/inside-sam-altman-and-elon-musks-battle-over-openai\">more than a dollop of skepticism\u003c/a>. \u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>Goldman said he sees evidence the judge is already leaning against Meta. “What has stood out to me is that the defendants just cannot get a break with this judge. Everything they’re arguing is just bouncing right off of her.” \u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>Goldman said he sees evidence the judge is already leaning against Meta. “What has stood out to me is that the defendants just cannot get a break with this judge. Everything they’re arguing is just bouncing right off of her.” \u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>Meta gave the judge seven arguments for throwing out the deception claims, including that social media addiction doesn’t exist and can’t be proven. Gonzalez Rogers \u003ca href=\"https://oag.ca.gov/news/press-releases/attorney-general-bonta-secures-court-decision-largely-denying-meta%E2%80%99s-attempt\">rejected all of them\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>Meta gave the judge seven arguments for throwing out the deception claims, including that social media addiction doesn’t exist and can’t be proven. Gonzalez Rogers \u003ca href=\"https://oag.ca.gov/news/press-releases/attorney-general-bonta-secures-court-decision-largely-denying-meta%E2%80%99s-attempt\">rejected all of them\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>Meta also said that federal children’s privacy law doesn’t apply, because Facebook and Instagram are built for general audiences and the company doesn’t know which users are under 13. Gonzalez Rogers sent that question to the jury, finding that children “at least partially” could be targets of the platforms.\u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>Meta also said that federal children’s privacy law doesn’t apply, because Facebook and Instagram are built for general audiences and the company doesn’t know which users are under 13. Gonzalez Rogers sent that question to the jury, finding that children “at least partially” could be targets of the platforms.\u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cfigure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\">\u003cimg src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/08/TeenAIGetty.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-12094089\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/08/TeenAIGetty.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/08/TeenAIGetty-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/08/TeenAIGetty-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"(min-width: 992px) min(100vw, 1536px), (min-width: 768px) min(100vw, 1280px), min(100vw, 1020px)\"/>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">Four states, including California, say Meta built Facebook and Instagram to hook kids and hid what it knew. \u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n",
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"\n\u003cfigure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\">\u003cimg src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/08/TeenAIGetty.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-12094089\"/>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">Four states, including California, say Meta built Facebook and Instagram to hook kids and hid what it knew. \u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>Gonzalez Rogers has demonstrated pre-trial skepticism of both sides. She characterized the states’ proposed penalties as \u003ca href=\"https://www.law360.com/articles/2502815/judge-decries-extreme-penalty-bids-in-social-media-mdl\">extreme\u003c/a>, while also noting that Meta’s counterproposal of $4 million was underwhelming for a business of its size.\u003c/p>\n",
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>Meta has said much of the litigation is attempting to fix a multi-faceted societal issue but wouldn’t effectively stop young people from using other types of social media, let alone its own.\u003c/p>\n",
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>But King at Stanford said Meta and other social media companies are being challenged in court because they have \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11905230/do-federal-lawmakers-have-the-stomach-to-rein-in-big-tech\">effectively shut down\u003c/a> most efforts at state and federal regulation. \u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>But King at Stanford said Meta and other social media companies are being challenged in court because they have \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11905230/do-federal-lawmakers-have-the-stomach-to-rein-in-big-tech\">effectively shut down\u003c/a> most efforts at state and federal regulation. \u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>“The types of heavy-handed policy instruments we are seeing floated right now, the outright bans, the age gating, age verification measures, are really the result of the companies not giving any ground,” King said. “They haven’t been willing to do it, because they know that it will drastically affect their bottom line.”\u003c/p>\n",
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"excerpt": "Four states, including California, say Meta built Facebook and Instagram to hook kids and hid what it knew. The federal trial opens this month in Oakland.",
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"title": "Meta Faces Up to $1.4 Trillion Reckoning as Youth-Addiction Trial Opens in Oakland | KQED",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>Since the dawn of social media, \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/tag/meta\">Meta\u003c/a> and other platforms have faced lawsuits charging that the sites caused harm to their users. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>The companies have largely shielded themselves from those legal attacks, arguing they are not responsible for content published on their sites. But in the last two years, plaintiffs’ lawyers and state attorneys general have found success with a new strategy: arguing social media companies knowingly designed their products and policies in ways that could harm children. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/forum/2010101913414/addictive-social-media-is-harmful-to-youth-jury-says\">Earlier this year,\u003c/a> Meta attorneys faced two juries and lost in both cases. A Los Angeles jury held Meta and Google’s YouTube liable for negligent design. A New Mexico jury found the company willfully violated state consumer-protection laws. The judge \u003ca href=\"https://www.wsj.com/tech/meta-ordered-to-pay-942-million-to-address-harm-to-kids-from-social-media-8ba5aab7?mod=e2li\">ordered Meta to pay $942 million\u003c/a> and change how its products work for young users in that state. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Starting this week in Oakland, the company faces its biggest challenge yet, when a federal trial brought by \u003ca href=\"https://oag.ca.gov/news/press-releases/attorney-general-bonta-files-lawsuit-against-meta-over-harms-youth-mental-health\">four state attorneys general\u003c/a> goes before Judge Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers. California, Colorado, Kentucky and New Jersey argue Meta built features it knew would hook young users, and kept children under 13 on its platforms because they were valuable future customers, while claiming otherwise to parents and regulators. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cfigure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/04/230816-Dublin-Womens-Prison-Suit-MD-01_qed.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-12037105\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/04/230816-Dublin-Womens-Prison-Suit-MD-01_qed.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/04/230816-Dublin-Womens-Prison-Suit-MD-01_qed-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/04/230816-Dublin-Womens-Prison-Suit-MD-01_qed-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/04/230816-Dublin-Womens-Prison-Suit-MD-01_qed-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/04/230816-Dublin-Womens-Prison-Suit-MD-01_qed-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/04/230816-Dublin-Womens-Prison-Suit-MD-01_qed-1920x1280.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">The Federal Courthouse in Oakland on Aug. 16, 2023. (Martin do Nascimento/KQED)\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>In a statement released Tuesday, a Meta spokesperson wrote, “We strongly disagree with these allegations and are confident the evidence will show our longstanding commitment to supporting young people. We’ve listened to parents, worked with experts and law enforcement, and conducted in-depth research to understand the issues that matter most. We’re proud of the progress we’ve made, and we’re always working to do better.”\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In pre-trial documents, the states have calculated Meta \u003ca href=\"https://www.courtlistener.com/docket/67908468/465/5/people-of-the-state-of-california-v-meta-platforms-inc/\">could owe $1.4 trillion\u003c/a>, roughly as much as the company is worth on Wall Street. Legal observers say that demand is not expected to survive the trial or the appeal likely to follow, but money is not the only demand. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>The states also want the court to order Meta to redesign its platforms to alter some of the very features that have made its products \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11965392/us-states-sue-meta-for-addictive-apps-fueling-youth-mental-health-crisis\">sticky enough\u003c/a> to attract \u003ca href=\"https://investor.atmeta.com/investor-news/press-release-details/2026/Meta-Reports-Second-Quarter-2026-Results/default.aspx\">3.6 billion people\u003c/a> around the globe.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>“You’re talking about platforms that were never designed for kids to begin with,” said Dr. Jen King, privacy and data policy fellow at the Stanford Institute for Human-Centered Artificial Intelligence. “So every feature there is really around engaging adults, designed to engage adults, without much thought to what would be developmentally appropriate design.”\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Internal documents released by \u003ca href=\"https://www.npr.org/2023/11/07/1211339737/meta-failed-to-address-harm-to-teens-whistleblower-testifies-as-senators-vow-act\">whistleblowers\u003c/a> have revealed that Meta’s own research showed how their site’s features could be harmful to teens, and that the company didn’t change course. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Meta has always officially required Facebook and Instagram users to be at least 13 years old, in conformity with federal law. It was not until September of 2024 that the company launched \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12084499/momfluencers-for-hire-metas-campaign-to-reshape-its-child-safety-image-faces-scrutiny\">age-appropriate versions\u003c/a> of Instagram for users ages 13 to 17, with content filters, screen time limits and parental supervision tools. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Meta has long been able to tell when users are underage, King said. “Even if they’ve lied about their age, it’s usually easy to tell by who they’re friends with, or what their activities are, what they like.” She said that internal documents demonstrate Meta platforms actually encouraged underage users, “because that’s their future user base.”\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>The outcome of the Oakland case has the potential to drive a stake through the heart of not just Meta, but social media at large, according to Eric Goldman, associate dean for research and professor at Santa Clara University School of Law.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>“These lawsuits are really existential in nature. The stakes here are about whether or not players can even exist in the industry,” he told KQED. $1.4 trillion, even if the plaintiffs downsize their demand during the trial, is “a very powerful statement, and from my perspective, a chilling statement,” he said.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>In Meta’s most recent \u003ca href=\"https://investor.atmeta.com/investor-news/press-release-details/2026/Meta-Reports-Second-Quarter-2026-Results/default.aspx\">earnings report\u003c/a>, CFO Susan Li said, “We continue to see scrutiny on youth-related issues in several markets and have a number of youth-related trials scheduled for this year in the U.S., which may ultimately result in a material loss.”\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cfigure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/05/TeenagersMetaSocialMediaGetty.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-12084574\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/05/TeenagersMetaSocialMediaGetty.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/05/TeenagersMetaSocialMediaGetty-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/05/TeenagersMetaSocialMediaGetty-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">A 14-year-old boy holds an iPhone with various social media and messaging apps on Feb. 23, 2026. (Anna Barclay/Getty Images)\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Since \u003ca href=\"https://www.npr.org/2025/12/10/nx-s1-5639694/social-media-ban-children-australia\">Australia barred children under 16\u003c/a> from using social media in 2025, more than two dozen countries have enacted bans or begun considering similar restrictions. While the Trump administration appears unlikely to follow suit, several states are moving forward on their own.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>California lawmakers are weighing \u003ca href=\"https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billTextClient.xhtml?bill_id=202520260AB1709\">AB 1709\u003c/a>, which would bar social media companies from serving addictive features to users under 16, and create an online safety commission inside the Department of Justice to advise the attorney general on enforcing it. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Meanwhile, social media companies are fighting thousands of lawsuits brought by individuals, school districts and states, with much of that litigation consolidated into large court cases in California. The \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/forum/2010101913414/addictive-social-media-is-harmful-to-youth-jury-says\">first to reach a jury\u003c/a> was brought by a young woman identified as K.G.M.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>In May, \u003ca href=\"https://apnews.com/article/meta-school-lawsuit-settlement-tiktok-snap-b20cdfe88dbcb55fb14808fe7f9c7372\">\u003c/a>Meta settled a suit brought by a \u003ca href=\"https://apnews.com/article/meta-school-lawsuit-settlement-tiktok-snap-b20cdfe88dbcb55fb14808fe7f9c7372\">Kentucky school district\u003c/a>. This month, a teenage plaintiff \u003ca href=\"https://www.reuters.com/world/teen-plaintiff-suing-meta-over-mental-health-harms-drops-his-claims-against-2026-07-22/\">dropped his suit\u003c/a> against Meta after settling with co-defendants YouTube, Snap and TikTok. Meta said it would continue to fight “baseless” lawsuits, noting the evidence showed the plaintiff in that case averaged just minutes a day on Facebook and Instagram, and he created most accounts only after hiring a lawyer.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Meta has expressed willingness to work with the states to make its products safer while calling the damage request of more than $1 trillion a “staggering” figure. “A sanction of that size has no analog in the history of consumer protection enforcement,” the company said in a \u003ca href=\"https://ecf.cand.uscourts.gov/doc1/035027386042?caseid=419868\">filing\u003c/a> in Oakland.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cfigure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1920\" height=\"1281\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2019/12/cellphone-1920.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-11789507\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2019/12/cellphone-1920.jpg 1920w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2019/12/cellphone-1920-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2019/12/cellphone-1920-800x534.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2019/12/cellphone-1920-1020x681.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2019/12/cellphone-1920-1200x801.jpg 1200w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">California, Colorado, Kentucky and New Jersey argue Meta built features it knew would hook young users, and kept children under 13 on its platforms because they were valuable future customers, while claiming otherwise to parents and regulators. (Chandan Khanna/AFP via Getty Images)\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Gonzalez Rogers has shown an appetite for taking on complex Silicon Valley court cases. In April, she presided over Musk v. Altman et al, showing no hesitation in keeping witnesses and lawyers in check, and carefully pruning the focus of the trial. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Legal analysts saw many of her moves as strategic, designed to avoid a sprawling trial that could have lasted for months. Close readings of her pre-trial rulings also hinted that she viewed Elon Musk’s claims with \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12082428/inside-sam-altman-and-elon-musks-battle-over-openai\">more than a dollop of skepticism\u003c/a>. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Goldman said he sees evidence the judge is already leaning against Meta. “What has stood out to me is that the defendants just cannot get a break with this judge. Everything they’re arguing is just bouncing right off of her.” \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Meta gave the judge seven arguments for throwing out the deception claims, including that social media addiction doesn’t exist and can’t be proven. Gonzalez Rogers \u003ca href=\"https://oag.ca.gov/news/press-releases/attorney-general-bonta-secures-court-decision-largely-denying-meta%E2%80%99s-attempt\">rejected all of them\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Meta also said that federal children’s privacy law doesn’t apply, because Facebook and Instagram are built for general audiences and the company doesn’t know which users are under 13. Gonzalez Rogers sent that question to the jury, finding that children “at least partially” could be targets of the platforms.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cfigure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/08/TeenAIGetty.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-12094089\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/08/TeenAIGetty.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/08/TeenAIGetty-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/08/TeenAIGetty-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">Four states, including California, say Meta built Facebook and Instagram to hook kids and hid what it knew. (Fiordaliso/Getty Images)\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Gonzalez Rogers has demonstrated pre-trial skepticism of both sides. She characterized the states’ proposed penalties as \u003ca href=\"https://www.law360.com/articles/2502815/judge-decries-extreme-penalty-bids-in-social-media-mdl\">extreme\u003c/a>, while also noting that Meta’s counterproposal of $4 million was underwhelming for a business of its size.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Meta has said much of the litigation is attempting to fix a multi-faceted societal issue but wouldn’t effectively stop young people from using other types of social media, let alone its own.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>But King at Stanford said Meta and other social media companies are being challenged in court because they have \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11905230/do-federal-lawmakers-have-the-stomach-to-rein-in-big-tech\">effectively shut down\u003c/a> most efforts at state and federal regulation. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The types of heavy-handed policy instruments we are seeing floated right now, the outright bans, the age gating, age verification measures, are really the result of the companies not giving any ground,” King said. “They haven’t been willing to do it, because they know that it will drastically affect their bottom line.”\u003c/p>\n\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
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"title": "Meta Faces Another Trial Over Alleged Harms of Social Media",
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"content": "\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Here are the morning’s top stories on Monday, August 10, 2026\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n\u003cli>Jury selection begins Wednesday in Oakland in a federal trial pitting four state attorneys general, including California’s, against Meta. The AGs argue the company deliberately engineered addiction into Facebook and Instagram, aimed them at children, and lied to the public about the risks. \u003c/li>\n\n\n\n\u003cli>Cases of the foodborne cyclospora parasite \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12094247/cyclosporiasis-cyclospora-outbreak-rise-californaia-cases-symptoms-parasite-explosive-diarrhea-lettuce\">have risen sharply in California\u003c/a>. But officials say the rise is still not linked to the major national outbreak. The parasite has not been detected on produce grown in California. But local farmers here are still feeling the effects of the outbreak. \u003c/li>\n\n\n\n\u003cli>A Shasta County judge \u003ca href=\"https://www.ijpr.org/politics-government/2026-08-07/sweeping-shasta-county-election-changes-temporarily-blocked-in-court\">has blocked\u003c/a> a number of controversial changes to the elections system that voters approved earlier this year.\u003c/li>\n\u003c/ul>\n\n\n\n\u003ch2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">\u003cstrong>Jury selection begins this week in latest Meta trial\u003c/strong>\u003c/h2>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>On Wednesday in Oakland, the federal trial between four state attorneys general, including California AG Rob Bonta, and Meta begins with jury selection. The case is looking at whether the company deliberately engineered addiction into Facebook and Instagram, aimed them at children, and lied to the public about the risks.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>“This is a consumer protection case, not a personal injury case or a free speech case,” said KQED Silicon Valley Senior Editor Rachael Myrow. “The attorneys general are asking for civil penalties and for Meta to hand over profits it made from underage users. In pre-trial filings, they’ve calculated those penalties could run as much as $1.4 trillion. That’s roughly what Meta is worth on Wall Street these days. But money isn’t the only ask. The states also want a court order forcing Meta to redesign its platforms to change the features that keep young people scrolling.”\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Meta has argued that social media addiction isn’t a real diagnosis. The company also argued that Facebook and Instagram are not aimed at children particularly, although Meta recently developed a teen-specific version of Instagram. Judge Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers rejected both of those arguments before trial. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Opening arguments in the case are scheduled for August 18.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003ch2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"> \u003cstrong>\u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12094247/cyclosporiasis-cyclospora-outbreak-rise-californaia-cases-symptoms-parasite-explosive-diarrhea-lettuce\">Cyclosporiasis cases in California are way up\u003c/a>\u003c/strong>\u003c/h2>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Amid the \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12090791/cyclosporiasis-symptoms-california-parasite-explosive-diarrhea-foodborne-cyclospora-michigan-outbreak-fruits-vegetables-incubation-antibiotics#california-cases\">national outbreaks \u003c/a>of cyclospora — a foodborne parasite that causes explosive diarrhea, which has sickened tens of thousands of people nationally and led to \u003ca href=\"https://apnews.com/article/michigan-cyclospora-outbreak-deaths-cf058908cdfd1bfd405d15e7079bed14\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">two reported deaths\u003c/a> — California health officials have reassured residents: The state remains one of the few unaffected by the outbreak.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But even as the California Department of Public Health confirmed that none of the iceberg lettuce being investigated as a source of the outbreak was distributed in the state, cases of cyclosporiasis in California have nonetheless jumped up in the last few months. After reporting only 41 cyclosporiasis cases from January to June this year, \u003ca href=\"https://www.cdph.ca.gov/Programs/CID/DCDC/Pages/Cyclosporiasis.aspx\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">CDPH’s most recent data \u003c/a>shows that the 2026 number has now risen to 215 “confirmed and probable” cases as of July 15, including 13 hospitalizations. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>For context, based on their 2015-2025 figures, CDPH’s annual average for cyclosporiasis cases is 106. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"https://www.cdph.ca.gov/Programs/OPA/Pages/NR26-024.aspx\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">“Most cases”\u003c/a> of cyclospora in California tend to be linked to residents traveling to international destinations with cyclosporiasis outbreaks, CDPH said. But the agency also suspects that this year there have been “increased cases in travelers to areas with cyclosporiasis outbreaks, whether international or domestic.” \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>The outbreak is also impacting produce growers in California. The Central Coast and nearby valleys produce most of the United States’ leafy greens. But right now, Tony Alameda, an owner of Top Flavor Farms in San Juan Bautista, said people aren’t buying. “”It’s a shame because it has nothing to do with anything we’ve done in the region, and yet you’re just impacted,” Alameda said. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>He said some growers aren’t harvesting 30% to 40% of their crop because of the reduced demand.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003ch2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">\u003cstrong>\u003ca href=\"https://www.ijpr.org/politics-government/2026-08-07/sweeping-shasta-county-election-changes-temporarily-blocked-in-court\">Sweeping Shasta County election changes temporarily blocked in court\u003c/a>\u003c/strong>\u003c/h2>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>A Shasta County judge has blocked a number of controversial changes to the elections system that voters approved earlier this year. Judge Benjamin Hanna granted a preliminary injunction Friday morning to stop Shasta County’s Measure B from moving forward.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>The measure \u003ca href=\"https://www.ijpr.org/politics-government/2026-05-01/measure-b-could-reshape-shasta-county-elections-if-courts-allow-it\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">\u003cu>would make a number of changes\u003c/u>\u003c/a> Hanna said were in direct violation of state law, like hand-counting ballots and severely restricting mail-in voting. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>The California Attorney General sued the county shortly after the measure passed. The county board of supervisors voted to not defend the measure in court, so instead the proponents who got the measure on the ballot took the county’s place.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>In his ruling, Judge Hanna said that while charter counties have additional powers, those can’t extend beyond the state constitution. He added that the California Supreme Court has said that the integrity of elections is a matter of statewide concern, and should be addressed by the legislature, not individual counties.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>He found that the four main provisions of the measure directly contradict state law. That includes voter ID requirements, restricting mail-in voting, hand-counting ballots and creating a new voter roll independent of the state.\u003c/p>\n\n",
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"Cases of the foodborne cyclospora parasite have risen sharply in California. But officials say the rise is still not linked to the major national outbreak. The parasite has not been detected on produce grown in California. But local farmers here are still feeling the effects of the outbreak. ",
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cli>Cases of the foodborne cyclospora parasite \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12094247/cyclosporiasis-cyclospora-outbreak-rise-californaia-cases-symptoms-parasite-explosive-diarrhea-lettuce\">have risen sharply in California\u003c/a>. But officials say the rise is still not linked to the major national outbreak. The parasite has not been detected on produce grown in California. But local farmers here are still feeling the effects of the outbreak. \u003c/li>\n",
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"\n\u003cli>Cases of the foodborne cyclospora parasite \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12094247/cyclosporiasis-cyclospora-outbreak-rise-californaia-cases-symptoms-parasite-explosive-diarrhea-lettuce\">have risen sharply in California\u003c/a>. But officials say the rise is still not linked to the major national outbreak. The parasite has not been detected on produce grown in California. But local farmers here are still feeling the effects of the outbreak. \u003c/li>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cli>A Shasta County judge \u003ca href=\"https://www.ijpr.org/politics-government/2026-08-07/sweeping-shasta-county-election-changes-temporarily-blocked-in-court\">has blocked\u003c/a> a number of controversial changes to the elections system that voters approved earlier this year.\u003c/li>\n",
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>On Wednesday in Oakland, the federal trial between four state attorneys general, including California AG Rob Bonta, and Meta begins with jury selection. The case is looking at whether the company deliberately engineered addiction into Facebook and Instagram, aimed them at children, and lied to the public about the risks.\u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>On Wednesday in Oakland, the federal trial between four state attorneys general, including California AG Rob Bonta, and Meta begins with jury selection. The case is looking at whether the company deliberately engineered addiction into Facebook and Instagram, aimed them at children, and lied to the public about the risks.\u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>“This is a consumer protection case, not a personal injury case or a free speech case,” said KQED Silicon Valley Senior Editor Rachael Myrow. “The attorneys general are asking for civil penalties and for Meta to hand over profits it made from underage users. In pre-trial filings, they’ve calculated those penalties could run as much as $1.4 trillion. That’s roughly what Meta is worth on Wall Street these days. But money isn’t the only ask. The states also want a court order forcing Meta to redesign its platforms to change the features that keep young people scrolling.”\u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>“This is a consumer protection case, not a personal injury case or a free speech case,” said KQED Silicon Valley Senior Editor Rachael Myrow. “The attorneys general are asking for civil penalties and for Meta to hand over profits it made from underage users. In pre-trial filings, they’ve calculated those penalties could run as much as $1.4 trillion. That’s roughly what Meta is worth on Wall Street these days. But money isn’t the only ask. The states also want a court order forcing Meta to redesign its platforms to change the features that keep young people scrolling.”\u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>Meta has argued that social media addiction isn’t a real diagnosis. The company also argued that Facebook and Instagram are not aimed at children particularly, although Meta recently developed a teen-specific version of Instagram. Judge Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers rejected both of those arguments before trial. \u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>Meta has argued that social media addiction isn’t a real diagnosis. The company also argued that Facebook and Instagram are not aimed at children particularly, although Meta recently developed a teen-specific version of Instagram. Judge Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers rejected both of those arguments before trial. \u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>Opening arguments in the case are scheduled for August 18.\u003c/p>\n",
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"text": "Cyclosporiasis cases in California are way up",
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003ch2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"> \u003cstrong>\u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12094247/cyclosporiasis-cyclospora-outbreak-rise-californaia-cases-symptoms-parasite-explosive-diarrhea-lettuce\">Cyclosporiasis cases in California are way up\u003c/a>\u003c/strong>\u003c/h2>\n",
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>Amid the \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12090791/cyclosporiasis-symptoms-california-parasite-explosive-diarrhea-foodborne-cyclospora-michigan-outbreak-fruits-vegetables-incubation-antibiotics#california-cases\">national outbreaks \u003c/a>of cyclospora — a foodborne parasite that causes explosive diarrhea, which has sickened tens of thousands of people nationally and led to \u003ca href=\"https://apnews.com/article/michigan-cyclospora-outbreak-deaths-cf058908cdfd1bfd405d15e7079bed14\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">two reported deaths\u003c/a> — California health officials have reassured residents: The state remains one of the few unaffected by the outbreak.\u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>Amid the \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12090791/cyclosporiasis-symptoms-california-parasite-explosive-diarrhea-foodborne-cyclospora-michigan-outbreak-fruits-vegetables-incubation-antibiotics#california-cases\">national outbreaks \u003c/a>of cyclospora — a foodborne parasite that causes explosive diarrhea, which has sickened tens of thousands of people nationally and led to \u003ca href=\"https://apnews.com/article/michigan-cyclospora-outbreak-deaths-cf058908cdfd1bfd405d15e7079bed14\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">two reported deaths\u003c/a> — California health officials have reassured residents: The state remains one of the few unaffected by the outbreak.\u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>But even as the California Department of Public Health confirmed that none of the iceberg lettuce being investigated as a source of the outbreak was distributed in the state, cases of cyclosporiasis in California have nonetheless jumped up in the last few months. After reporting only 41 cyclosporiasis cases from January to June this year, \u003ca href=\"https://www.cdph.ca.gov/Programs/CID/DCDC/Pages/Cyclosporiasis.aspx\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">CDPH’s most recent data \u003c/a>shows that the 2026 number has now risen to 215 “confirmed and probable” cases as of July 15, including 13 hospitalizations. \u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>But even as the California Department of Public Health confirmed that none of the iceberg lettuce being investigated as a source of the outbreak was distributed in the state, cases of cyclosporiasis in California have nonetheless jumped up in the last few months. After reporting only 41 cyclosporiasis cases from January to June this year, \u003ca href=\"https://www.cdph.ca.gov/Programs/CID/DCDC/Pages/Cyclosporiasis.aspx\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">CDPH’s most recent data \u003c/a>shows that the 2026 number has now risen to 215 “confirmed and probable” cases as of July 15, including 13 hospitalizations. \u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>For context, based on their 2015-2025 figures, CDPH’s annual average for cyclosporiasis cases is 106. \u003c/p>\n",
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"https://www.cdph.ca.gov/Programs/OPA/Pages/NR26-024.aspx\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">“Most cases”\u003c/a> of cyclospora in California tend to be linked to residents traveling to international destinations with cyclosporiasis outbreaks, CDPH said. But the agency also suspects that this year there have been “increased cases in travelers to areas with cyclosporiasis outbreaks, whether international or domestic.” \u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"https://www.cdph.ca.gov/Programs/OPA/Pages/NR26-024.aspx\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">“Most cases”\u003c/a> of cyclospora in California tend to be linked to residents traveling to international destinations with cyclosporiasis outbreaks, CDPH said. But the agency also suspects that this year there have been “increased cases in travelers to areas with cyclosporiasis outbreaks, whether international or domestic.” \u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>The outbreak is also impacting produce growers in California. The Central Coast and nearby valleys produce most of the United States’ leafy greens. But right now, Tony Alameda, an owner of Top Flavor Farms in San Juan Bautista, said people aren’t buying. “”It’s a shame because it has nothing to do with anything we’ve done in the region, and yet you’re just impacted,” Alameda said. \u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>The outbreak is also impacting produce growers in California. The Central Coast and nearby valleys produce most of the United States’ leafy greens. But right now, Tony Alameda, an owner of Top Flavor Farms in San Juan Bautista, said people aren’t buying. “”It’s a shame because it has nothing to do with anything we’ve done in the region, and yet you’re just impacted,” Alameda said. \u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>He said some growers aren’t harvesting 30% to 40% of their crop because of the reduced demand.\u003c/p>\n",
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"text": "Sweeping Shasta County election changes temporarily blocked in court",
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>A Shasta County judge has blocked a number of controversial changes to the elections system that voters approved earlier this year. Judge Benjamin Hanna granted a preliminary injunction Friday morning to stop Shasta County’s Measure B from moving forward.\u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>A Shasta County judge has blocked a number of controversial changes to the elections system that voters approved earlier this year. Judge Benjamin Hanna granted a preliminary injunction Friday morning to stop Shasta County’s Measure B from moving forward.\u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>The measure \u003ca href=\"https://www.ijpr.org/politics-government/2026-05-01/measure-b-could-reshape-shasta-county-elections-if-courts-allow-it\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">\u003cu>would make a number of changes\u003c/u>\u003c/a> Hanna said were in direct violation of state law, like hand-counting ballots and severely restricting mail-in voting. \u003c/p>\n",
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>The California Attorney General sued the county shortly after the measure passed. The county board of supervisors voted to not defend the measure in court, so instead the proponents who got the measure on the ballot took the county’s place.\u003c/p>\n",
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>In his ruling, Judge Hanna said that while charter counties have additional powers, those can’t extend beyond the state constitution. He added that the California Supreme Court has said that the integrity of elections is a matter of statewide concern, and should be addressed by the legislature, not individual counties.\u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>In his ruling, Judge Hanna said that while charter counties have additional powers, those can’t extend beyond the state constitution. He added that the California Supreme Court has said that the integrity of elections is a matter of statewide concern, and should be addressed by the legislature, not individual counties.\u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>He found that the four main provisions of the measure directly contradict state law. That includes voter ID requirements, restricting mail-in voting, hand-counting ballots and creating a new voter roll independent of the state.\u003c/p>\n",
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"excerpt": "Jury selection begins in Oakland on Wednesday.",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Here are the morning’s top stories on Monday, August 10, 2026\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n\u003cli>Jury selection begins Wednesday in Oakland in a federal trial pitting four state attorneys general, including California’s, against Meta. The AGs argue the company deliberately engineered addiction into Facebook and Instagram, aimed them at children, and lied to the public about the risks. \u003c/li>\n\n\n\n\u003cli>Cases of the foodborne cyclospora parasite \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12094247/cyclosporiasis-cyclospora-outbreak-rise-californaia-cases-symptoms-parasite-explosive-diarrhea-lettuce\">have risen sharply in California\u003c/a>. But officials say the rise is still not linked to the major national outbreak. The parasite has not been detected on produce grown in California. But local farmers here are still feeling the effects of the outbreak. \u003c/li>\n\n\n\n\u003cli>A Shasta County judge \u003ca href=\"https://www.ijpr.org/politics-government/2026-08-07/sweeping-shasta-county-election-changes-temporarily-blocked-in-court\">has blocked\u003c/a> a number of controversial changes to the elections system that voters approved earlier this year.\u003c/li>\n\u003c/ul>\n\n\n\n\u003ch2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">\u003cstrong>Jury selection begins this week in latest Meta trial\u003c/strong>\u003c/h2>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>On Wednesday in Oakland, the federal trial between four state attorneys general, including California AG Rob Bonta, and Meta begins with jury selection. The case is looking at whether the company deliberately engineered addiction into Facebook and Instagram, aimed them at children, and lied to the public about the risks.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>“This is a consumer protection case, not a personal injury case or a free speech case,” said KQED Silicon Valley Senior Editor Rachael Myrow. “The attorneys general are asking for civil penalties and for Meta to hand over profits it made from underage users. In pre-trial filings, they’ve calculated those penalties could run as much as $1.4 trillion. That’s roughly what Meta is worth on Wall Street these days. But money isn’t the only ask. The states also want a court order forcing Meta to redesign its platforms to change the features that keep young people scrolling.”\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Meta has argued that social media addiction isn’t a real diagnosis. The company also argued that Facebook and Instagram are not aimed at children particularly, although Meta recently developed a teen-specific version of Instagram. Judge Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers rejected both of those arguments before trial. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Opening arguments in the case are scheduled for August 18.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003ch2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"> \u003cstrong>\u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12094247/cyclosporiasis-cyclospora-outbreak-rise-californaia-cases-symptoms-parasite-explosive-diarrhea-lettuce\">Cyclosporiasis cases in California are way up\u003c/a>\u003c/strong>\u003c/h2>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Amid the \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12090791/cyclosporiasis-symptoms-california-parasite-explosive-diarrhea-foodborne-cyclospora-michigan-outbreak-fruits-vegetables-incubation-antibiotics#california-cases\">national outbreaks \u003c/a>of cyclospora — a foodborne parasite that causes explosive diarrhea, which has sickened tens of thousands of people nationally and led to \u003ca href=\"https://apnews.com/article/michigan-cyclospora-outbreak-deaths-cf058908cdfd1bfd405d15e7079bed14\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">two reported deaths\u003c/a> — California health officials have reassured residents: The state remains one of the few unaffected by the outbreak.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But even as the California Department of Public Health confirmed that none of the iceberg lettuce being investigated as a source of the outbreak was distributed in the state, cases of cyclosporiasis in California have nonetheless jumped up in the last few months. After reporting only 41 cyclosporiasis cases from January to June this year, \u003ca href=\"https://www.cdph.ca.gov/Programs/CID/DCDC/Pages/Cyclosporiasis.aspx\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">CDPH’s most recent data \u003c/a>shows that the 2026 number has now risen to 215 “confirmed and probable” cases as of July 15, including 13 hospitalizations. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>For context, based on their 2015-2025 figures, CDPH’s annual average for cyclosporiasis cases is 106. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"https://www.cdph.ca.gov/Programs/OPA/Pages/NR26-024.aspx\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">“Most cases”\u003c/a> of cyclospora in California tend to be linked to residents traveling to international destinations with cyclosporiasis outbreaks, CDPH said. But the agency also suspects that this year there have been “increased cases in travelers to areas with cyclosporiasis outbreaks, whether international or domestic.” \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>The outbreak is also impacting produce growers in California. The Central Coast and nearby valleys produce most of the United States’ leafy greens. But right now, Tony Alameda, an owner of Top Flavor Farms in San Juan Bautista, said people aren’t buying. “”It’s a shame because it has nothing to do with anything we’ve done in the region, and yet you’re just impacted,” Alameda said. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>He said some growers aren’t harvesting 30% to 40% of their crop because of the reduced demand.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003ch2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">\u003cstrong>\u003ca href=\"https://www.ijpr.org/politics-government/2026-08-07/sweeping-shasta-county-election-changes-temporarily-blocked-in-court\">Sweeping Shasta County election changes temporarily blocked in court\u003c/a>\u003c/strong>\u003c/h2>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>A Shasta County judge has blocked a number of controversial changes to the elections system that voters approved earlier this year. Judge Benjamin Hanna granted a preliminary injunction Friday morning to stop Shasta County’s Measure B from moving forward.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>The measure \u003ca href=\"https://www.ijpr.org/politics-government/2026-05-01/measure-b-could-reshape-shasta-county-elections-if-courts-allow-it\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">\u003cu>would make a number of changes\u003c/u>\u003c/a> Hanna said were in direct violation of state law, like hand-counting ballots and severely restricting mail-in voting. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>The California Attorney General sued the county shortly after the measure passed. The county board of supervisors voted to not defend the measure in court, so instead the proponents who got the measure on the ballot took the county’s place.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>In his ruling, Judge Hanna said that while charter counties have additional powers, those can’t extend beyond the state constitution. He added that the California Supreme Court has said that the integrity of elections is a matter of statewide concern, and should be addressed by the legislature, not individual counties.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>He found that the four main provisions of the measure directly contradict state law. That includes voter ID requirements, restricting mail-in voting, hand-counting ballots and creating a new voter roll independent of the state.\u003c/p>\n\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
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"content": "\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/tag/facebook\">Facebook\u003c/a> whistleblower Sarah Wynn-Williams sat in silence onstage at an event after lawyers advised her not to speak because of legal action brought by Meta.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>At the Hay Festival, an annual literature and arts event in the United Kingdom, Wynn-Williams was silent for an hour as she sat between investigative journalist Carole Cadwalladr and Columbia University law professor Tim Wu, without even nodding or shaking her head.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Wynn-Williams wrote a bestselling memoir, \u003cem>Careless People: A Cautionary Tale of Power, Greed, and Lost Idealism\u003c/em>, detailing her six years at the social media giant Meta, which owns Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp. It leveled\u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12031294/metas-efforts-to-block-explosive-expose-in-arbitration-likely-to-fail-labor-experts-say\"> incendiary allegations\u003c/a> of sexual harassment and other potentially illegal behavior by CEO Mark Zuckerberg and other top-level executives during her tenure.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>She was paid an advance of more than $500,000 for the book, according to \u003cem>New York Magazine’s\u003c/em>\u003ca href=\"https://www.vulture.com/article/careless-people-sarah-wynn-williams-facebook-gag-order.html\"> Vulture\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Working on policy at Facebook was way less like enacting a chapter from Machiavelli and way more like watching a bunch of 14-year-olds who’ve been given superpowers and an ungodly amount of money, as they jet around the world to figure out what power has bought and brought them,” she wrote in the first chapter of the book.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>A Meta spokesperson told KQED that when Wynn-Williams left the company in 2017, she signed a severance agreement that included a non-disparagement clause — which Meta is now enforcing — and received an undisclosed severance payment in exchange.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Wynn-Williams signed a \u003ca href=\"https://about.fb.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/Arbitration-Interim-Award.pdf\">binding arbitration agreement\u003c/a> in 2025 which explicitly prohibited her from promoting her book. She faces fines of $50,000 each time she breaches the order.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Shortly afterwards, in a\u003ca href=\"https://x.com/andymstone/status/1899938639540338759\"> post on the social media platform X\u003c/a> , Vice President of Communications Andy Stone wrote, “This ruling affirms that Sarah Wynn Williams’ false and defamatory book should never have been published.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11951941\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 1920px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-11951941 size-full\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/06/RS2274_facebook20120517.jpg\" alt=\"A computer tablet screen glows with a blue and white social media logo for the company Facebook. People are blurred in the background at a cafe setting.\" width=\"1920\" height=\"1277\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/06/RS2274_facebook20120517.jpg 1920w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/06/RS2274_facebook20120517-800x532.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/06/RS2274_facebook20120517-1020x678.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/06/RS2274_facebook20120517-160x106.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/06/RS2274_facebook20120517-1536x1022.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Sarah Wynn-Williams faces fines of $50,000 each time she breaches Meta’s order — which bars the author from promoting her book. \u003ccite>(Ted Aljibe/AFP via Getty Images)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>The emergency arbitrator whom Meta appealed to ahead of the Hay Festival found that Meta had “established a likelihood of success on the merits of its contractual non-disparagement claim.” Meta’s motion argued that she violates that order “any time she appears in public in a place where she should know that her book is available for sale.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The book, which appeared on numerous “Best Of” lists, including one published by\u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/arts/13985169/best-2025-nonfiction-books-to-start-2026\"> NPR\u003c/a>, was on sale at the Hay Festival, although it was pulled from sale while she was there.[aside postID=news_12083109 hero='https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/05/260511-SCCMETA-KQED-1-KQED.jpg']Tim Wu, who served under former President Joe Biden as Special Assistant for Technology and Competition Policy, wrote an email to KQED condemning Meta’s actions. “How can we say we have freedom of speech and also accept such blatant private censorship?” He wrote.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Wu has\u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/forum/2010101911952/click-scroll-surrender-tim-wu-warns-against-the-rise-of-big-data-in-the-age-of-extraction\"> criticized Big Tech\u003c/a> in his own book, \u003cem>The Age of Extraction: How Tech Platforms Conquered the Economy and Threaten Our Future Prosperity\u003c/em>. He added, “Is there any real difference between this [and] the authoritarian state that seeks to silence its critics?”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>According to the\u003ca href=\"https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2026/may/31/meta-legal-action-forces-facebook-whistleblower-to-stay-silent-at-hay-festival\"> Guardian\u003c/a>, which first reported on the Hay Festival incident, Cadwalladr said onstage, “We have an author in a hostage situation. Blink once if you can hear us, Sarah, twice if Zuckerberg is an asshole.” At the end of the event, Wynn-Williams received a standing ovation from the audience.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Cadwalladr, famous for her role in breaking the\u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11713801/facebooks-terrible-horrible-no-good-very-bad-year\"> Facebook-Cambridge Analytica scandal in 2018\u003c/a>, mocked Meta at the event. “This is not how you conduct crisis comms,” she said. “Crisis comms would just be simply to ignore this and deprive it of oxygen.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In 2023, the National Labor Relations Board ruled that it is generally illegal for companies to offer severance agreements that prohibit workers from making potentially disparaging statements about former employers, including discussing sexual harassment or sexual assault accusations.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But under the Trump administration’s NLRB, that ruling is effectively suspended.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/tag/facebook\">Facebook\u003c/a> whistleblower Sarah Wynn-Williams sat in silence onstage at an event after lawyers advised her not to speak because of legal action brought by Meta.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>At the Hay Festival, an annual literature and arts event in the United Kingdom, Wynn-Williams was silent for an hour as she sat between investigative journalist Carole Cadwalladr and Columbia University law professor Tim Wu, without even nodding or shaking her head.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Wynn-Williams wrote a bestselling memoir, \u003cem>Careless People: A Cautionary Tale of Power, Greed, and Lost Idealism\u003c/em>, detailing her six years at the social media giant Meta, which owns Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp. It leveled\u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12031294/metas-efforts-to-block-explosive-expose-in-arbitration-likely-to-fail-labor-experts-say\"> incendiary allegations\u003c/a> of sexual harassment and other potentially illegal behavior by CEO Mark Zuckerberg and other top-level executives during her tenure.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>She was paid an advance of more than $500,000 for the book, according to \u003cem>New York Magazine’s\u003c/em>\u003ca href=\"https://www.vulture.com/article/careless-people-sarah-wynn-williams-facebook-gag-order.html\"> Vulture\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Working on policy at Facebook was way less like enacting a chapter from Machiavelli and way more like watching a bunch of 14-year-olds who’ve been given superpowers and an ungodly amount of money, as they jet around the world to figure out what power has bought and brought them,” she wrote in the first chapter of the book.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>A Meta spokesperson told KQED that when Wynn-Williams left the company in 2017, she signed a severance agreement that included a non-disparagement clause — which Meta is now enforcing — and received an undisclosed severance payment in exchange.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Wynn-Williams signed a \u003ca href=\"https://about.fb.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/Arbitration-Interim-Award.pdf\">binding arbitration agreement\u003c/a> in 2025 which explicitly prohibited her from promoting her book. She faces fines of $50,000 each time she breaches the order.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Shortly afterwards, in a\u003ca href=\"https://x.com/andymstone/status/1899938639540338759\"> post on the social media platform X\u003c/a> , Vice President of Communications Andy Stone wrote, “This ruling affirms that Sarah Wynn Williams’ false and defamatory book should never have been published.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11951941\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 1920px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-11951941 size-full\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/06/RS2274_facebook20120517.jpg\" alt=\"A computer tablet screen glows with a blue and white social media logo for the company Facebook. People are blurred in the background at a cafe setting.\" width=\"1920\" height=\"1277\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/06/RS2274_facebook20120517.jpg 1920w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/06/RS2274_facebook20120517-800x532.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/06/RS2274_facebook20120517-1020x678.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/06/RS2274_facebook20120517-160x106.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/06/RS2274_facebook20120517-1536x1022.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Sarah Wynn-Williams faces fines of $50,000 each time she breaches Meta’s order — which bars the author from promoting her book. \u003ccite>(Ted Aljibe/AFP via Getty Images)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>The emergency arbitrator whom Meta appealed to ahead of the Hay Festival found that Meta had “established a likelihood of success on the merits of its contractual non-disparagement claim.” Meta’s motion argued that she violates that order “any time she appears in public in a place where she should know that her book is available for sale.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The book, which appeared on numerous “Best Of” lists, including one published by\u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/arts/13985169/best-2025-nonfiction-books-to-start-2026\"> NPR\u003c/a>, was on sale at the Hay Festival, although it was pulled from sale while she was there.\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>Tim Wu, who served under former President Joe Biden as Special Assistant for Technology and Competition Policy, wrote an email to KQED condemning Meta’s actions. “How can we say we have freedom of speech and also accept such blatant private censorship?” He wrote.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Wu has\u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/forum/2010101911952/click-scroll-surrender-tim-wu-warns-against-the-rise-of-big-data-in-the-age-of-extraction\"> criticized Big Tech\u003c/a> in his own book, \u003cem>The Age of Extraction: How Tech Platforms Conquered the Economy and Threaten Our Future Prosperity\u003c/em>. He added, “Is there any real difference between this [and] the authoritarian state that seeks to silence its critics?”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>According to the\u003ca href=\"https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2026/may/31/meta-legal-action-forces-facebook-whistleblower-to-stay-silent-at-hay-festival\"> Guardian\u003c/a>, which first reported on the Hay Festival incident, Cadwalladr said onstage, “We have an author in a hostage situation. Blink once if you can hear us, Sarah, twice if Zuckerberg is an asshole.” At the end of the event, Wynn-Williams received a standing ovation from the audience.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Cadwalladr, famous for her role in breaking the\u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11713801/facebooks-terrible-horrible-no-good-very-bad-year\"> Facebook-Cambridge Analytica scandal in 2018\u003c/a>, mocked Meta at the event. “This is not how you conduct crisis comms,” she said. “Crisis comms would just be simply to ignore this and deprive it of oxygen.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In 2023, the National Labor Relations Board ruled that it is generally illegal for companies to offer severance agreements that prohibit workers from making potentially disparaging statements about former employers, including discussing sexual harassment or sexual assault accusations.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But under the Trump administration’s NLRB, that ruling is effectively suspended.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
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"title": "‘Momfluencers’ for Hire: Meta’s Campaign to Reshape Its Child Safety Image Faces Scrutiny",
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"content": "\u003cp>When a parenting influencer posts a glowing Instagram Reel about how Meta’s Teen Accounts are keeping kids safe online, it can look like a mom just trying to help other moms. But a Washington, D.C.-based watchdog calls it part of a paid marketing campaign from \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/forum/2010101913414/addictive-social-media-is-harmful-to-youth-jury-says\">a heavily sued Big Tech company\u003c/a> in Silicon Valley.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The nonprofit \u003ca href=\"https://www.techtransparencyproject.org/articles/meta-deploys-momfluencers-to-counter-child-safety-criticism\">Tech Transparency Project’s\u003c/a> latest investigation documents how Meta has deployed a sprawling network of paid Instagram influencers like Huff to promote its Teen Account safety features to millions of parents. Meta’s campaign coincides with an onslaught of \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/forum/2010101913414/addictive-social-media-is-harmful-to-youth-jury-says\">child safety lawsuits\u003c/a> against the company, including jury verdicts in March 2026 that found Meta liable for deliberately harming minors, and another filed just last week in \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12083109/santa-clara-county-takes-on-meta-scam-ads-in-lawsuit\">Santa Clara County\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The report cited an October 2024 \u003ca href=\"https://www.instagram.com/reels/DBRJvXDPRaz/\">post\u003c/a> by influencer Sadie Robertson Huff, known for starring in the reality TV series \u003cem>Duck Dynasty\u003c/em>. “Even as the parent of a 3-year-old, I already worry about the future of social media,” she wrote. Huff typically posts about her family and Christian faith to her more than five million Instagram followers.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The fact that Instagram is thinking about this for teens and trying to help parents have a peace of mind is amazing,” the post continued. It also featured a #MetaPartner tag — but buried at the bottom of the glowing endorsement is a small print disclosure that she has a paid partnership with Instagram.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The investigation also identified at least 11 doctors and psychologists with financial ties to Meta who publicly promoted the Teen Accounts, in some cases on television, without consistently disclosing those relationships.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“You have these influencers being paid to push what is essentially a faulty product in the first place,” said Katie Paul, director of the Tech Transparency Project.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12038161\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-12038161 size-full\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/04/StanfordStudyAIChatbotsKidsGetty.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/04/StanfordStudyAIChatbotsKidsGetty.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/04/StanfordStudyAIChatbotsKidsGetty-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/04/StanfordStudyAIChatbotsKidsGetty-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/04/StanfordStudyAIChatbotsKidsGetty-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/04/StanfordStudyAIChatbotsKidsGetty-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/04/StanfordStudyAIChatbotsKidsGetty-1920x1280.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">The nonprofit Tech Transparency Project’s latest investigation documents how Meta has deployed a network of paid Instagram influencers to promote its Teen Account safety features to millions of parents. \u003ccite>(Jade Gao/AFP via Getty Images)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"https://familycenter.meta.com/our-products/instagram/\">Meta promotes Teen Accounts\u003c/a> as a safer Instagram experience for users ages 13 to 17, with content filters, screen time limits and parental supervision tools. The company has hosted what it calls \u003ca href=\"https://www.instagram.com/p/DCmDOAOOzTk/\">Screen Smart events\u003c/a> in cities across the country, where influencers collect branded swag and hear Meta’s messaging. Many of the posts that follow include a “paid partnership” label or hashtag. Some don’t.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>One medical influencer, who spoke to TTP on background because they’d signed a non-disclosure agreement, said they felt “manipulated” after learning about the child safety lawsuits against Meta. They said Meta edited their script to remove language acknowledging social media’s negative effects on kids, before algorithmically boosting the post to millions of views.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Meta has also recruited influencer dads, like reality TV star Leroy Garrett, who has nearly 300,000 Instagram followers. He attended a Screen Smart event in Chicago in April 2026 and \u003ca href=\"https://www.instagram.com/royleethebarber/reel/DW9ZQhwkX5A/\">posted \u003c/a>a paid endorsement of Teen Accounts. In a statement to CNN, he defended the arrangement: “Partnering with Meta allows me to contribute to this important conversation and advocate for the well-being of our children in the digital landscape.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In a statement provided to KQED, a Meta spokesperson wrote, “Teen Accounts provide built-in protections for young people and give parents concrete tools to supervise their teens’ experience. We proudly work with parents and creators to spread the word about these controls and encourage people to use them.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Our critics claim to care about safety, but attacking efforts to educate parents proves they are more interested in headlines than actually helping families,” it continued.[aside postID=news_12072425 hero='https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/05/AP24134775174210-1020x680.jpg']The spokesperson also noted that partnering with influencers to raise awareness has become standard industry practice, pointing to similar arrangements at TikTok, Snap and Roblox.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Paul didn’t dispute that other platforms use influencer marketing. But she argued that Meta warrants particular scrutiny. Though Pew Research consistently shows YouTube leadings among teens, with TikTok second, Meta’s internal documents, surfaced through litigation, demonstrate how long the company has been aware of harms to children while choosing not to act. The Teen Accounts themselves, Paul asserted, were launched in 2024 largely by repackaging safety features that the company had already announced piecemeal in prior years — timed, she argues, to counter the momentum of lawsuits.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It’s still just passing the buck on responsibility, rather than moderating the platforms and making them safe in the first place,” Paul said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>A \u003cem>Washington Post\u003c/em> investigation found that Teen Accounts “fail spectacularly” to shield young users from content related to sex, alcohol and drugs. TTP’s own researchers found that searching a hashtag as simple as #fight from a Teen Account surfaced graphic content, the same type of content Meta explicitly claimed its filters would block.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Paul said Meta also needs to hire more human content moderators, rather than rely heavily on artificial intelligence for moderation. “Time and again, it’s a very small team of researchers, or in some cases journalists, that are easily, at a very basic level, able to surface these issues,” Paul said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The stakes are rising. A trial pitting school districts against Meta and other social media companies is expected this summer, part of a wave of litigation that legal observers say will attempt to force Silicon Valley to take accountability for child safety. TTP said it has more reporting to come on how tech companies use outside networks to shape public opinion.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>For parents trying to navigate all of this, the influencer telling you that Instagram is working hard to keep your teenager safe may genuinely believe it. She might have also been paid — and may not have understood the larger context around her claims.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>When a parenting influencer posts a glowing Instagram Reel about how Meta’s Teen Accounts are keeping kids safe online, it can look like a mom just trying to help other moms. But a Washington, D.C.-based watchdog calls it part of a paid marketing campaign from \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/forum/2010101913414/addictive-social-media-is-harmful-to-youth-jury-says\">a heavily sued Big Tech company\u003c/a> in Silicon Valley.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The nonprofit \u003ca href=\"https://www.techtransparencyproject.org/articles/meta-deploys-momfluencers-to-counter-child-safety-criticism\">Tech Transparency Project’s\u003c/a> latest investigation documents how Meta has deployed a sprawling network of paid Instagram influencers like Huff to promote its Teen Account safety features to millions of parents. Meta’s campaign coincides with an onslaught of \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/forum/2010101913414/addictive-social-media-is-harmful-to-youth-jury-says\">child safety lawsuits\u003c/a> against the company, including jury verdicts in March 2026 that found Meta liable for deliberately harming minors, and another filed just last week in \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12083109/santa-clara-county-takes-on-meta-scam-ads-in-lawsuit\">Santa Clara County\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The report cited an October 2024 \u003ca href=\"https://www.instagram.com/reels/DBRJvXDPRaz/\">post\u003c/a> by influencer Sadie Robertson Huff, known for starring in the reality TV series \u003cem>Duck Dynasty\u003c/em>. “Even as the parent of a 3-year-old, I already worry about the future of social media,” she wrote. Huff typically posts about her family and Christian faith to her more than five million Instagram followers.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The fact that Instagram is thinking about this for teens and trying to help parents have a peace of mind is amazing,” the post continued. It also featured a #MetaPartner tag — but buried at the bottom of the glowing endorsement is a small print disclosure that she has a paid partnership with Instagram.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The investigation also identified at least 11 doctors and psychologists with financial ties to Meta who publicly promoted the Teen Accounts, in some cases on television, without consistently disclosing those relationships.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“You have these influencers being paid to push what is essentially a faulty product in the first place,” said Katie Paul, director of the Tech Transparency Project.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12038161\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-12038161 size-full\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/04/StanfordStudyAIChatbotsKidsGetty.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/04/StanfordStudyAIChatbotsKidsGetty.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/04/StanfordStudyAIChatbotsKidsGetty-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/04/StanfordStudyAIChatbotsKidsGetty-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/04/StanfordStudyAIChatbotsKidsGetty-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/04/StanfordStudyAIChatbotsKidsGetty-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/04/StanfordStudyAIChatbotsKidsGetty-1920x1280.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">The nonprofit Tech Transparency Project’s latest investigation documents how Meta has deployed a network of paid Instagram influencers to promote its Teen Account safety features to millions of parents. \u003ccite>(Jade Gao/AFP via Getty Images)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"https://familycenter.meta.com/our-products/instagram/\">Meta promotes Teen Accounts\u003c/a> as a safer Instagram experience for users ages 13 to 17, with content filters, screen time limits and parental supervision tools. The company has hosted what it calls \u003ca href=\"https://www.instagram.com/p/DCmDOAOOzTk/\">Screen Smart events\u003c/a> in cities across the country, where influencers collect branded swag and hear Meta’s messaging. Many of the posts that follow include a “paid partnership” label or hashtag. Some don’t.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>One medical influencer, who spoke to TTP on background because they’d signed a non-disclosure agreement, said they felt “manipulated” after learning about the child safety lawsuits against Meta. They said Meta edited their script to remove language acknowledging social media’s negative effects on kids, before algorithmically boosting the post to millions of views.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Meta has also recruited influencer dads, like reality TV star Leroy Garrett, who has nearly 300,000 Instagram followers. He attended a Screen Smart event in Chicago in April 2026 and \u003ca href=\"https://www.instagram.com/royleethebarber/reel/DW9ZQhwkX5A/\">posted \u003c/a>a paid endorsement of Teen Accounts. In a statement to CNN, he defended the arrangement: “Partnering with Meta allows me to contribute to this important conversation and advocate for the well-being of our children in the digital landscape.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In a statement provided to KQED, a Meta spokesperson wrote, “Teen Accounts provide built-in protections for young people and give parents concrete tools to supervise their teens’ experience. We proudly work with parents and creators to spread the word about these controls and encourage people to use them.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Our critics claim to care about safety, but attacking efforts to educate parents proves they are more interested in headlines than actually helping families,” it continued.\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>The spokesperson also noted that partnering with influencers to raise awareness has become standard industry practice, pointing to similar arrangements at TikTok, Snap and Roblox.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Paul didn’t dispute that other platforms use influencer marketing. But she argued that Meta warrants particular scrutiny. Though Pew Research consistently shows YouTube leadings among teens, with TikTok second, Meta’s internal documents, surfaced through litigation, demonstrate how long the company has been aware of harms to children while choosing not to act. The Teen Accounts themselves, Paul asserted, were launched in 2024 largely by repackaging safety features that the company had already announced piecemeal in prior years — timed, she argues, to counter the momentum of lawsuits.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It’s still just passing the buck on responsibility, rather than moderating the platforms and making them safe in the first place,” Paul said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>A \u003cem>Washington Post\u003c/em> investigation found that Teen Accounts “fail spectacularly” to shield young users from content related to sex, alcohol and drugs. TTP’s own researchers found that searching a hashtag as simple as #fight from a Teen Account surfaced graphic content, the same type of content Meta explicitly claimed its filters would block.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Paul said Meta also needs to hire more human content moderators, rather than rely heavily on artificial intelligence for moderation. “Time and again, it’s a very small team of researchers, or in some cases journalists, that are easily, at a very basic level, able to surface these issues,” Paul said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The stakes are rising. A trial pitting school districts against Meta and other social media companies is expected this summer, part of a wave of litigation that legal observers say will attempt to force Silicon Valley to take accountability for child safety. TTP said it has more reporting to come on how tech companies use outside networks to shape public opinion.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>For parents trying to navigate all of this, the influencer telling you that Instagram is working hard to keep your teenager safe may genuinely believe it. She might have also been paid — and may not have understood the larger context around her claims.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
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"content": "\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/tag/santa-clara-county\">Santa Clara County\u003c/a> is suing Meta, the parent company of Facebook and Instagram, alleging the company is enabling and profiting from billions of scam advertisements circulating on its sites.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The civil lawsuit, filed Monday in Santa Clara County Superior Court, claims Menlo Park-based Meta’s social media platforms carry around 15 billion scam ads daily, hurting seniors, families and small businesses, among its 3.5 billion users.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>County officials said the suit, filed on behalf of all California residents, is the first of its kind to be brought in the state and the first such action by any local civil prosecutor in the nation.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>County Counsel Tony LoPresti said the company earns an estimated $7 billion in annual revenue from “fraudulent or otherwise prohibited advertisements” alone, in some cases by allegedly charging scammers a premium to post the ads.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Meta might be a massive power broker in Silicon Valley and throughout the world, but Meta is not a company above the law,” LoPresti said during a press conference on Monday morning announcing the legal action.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>He said with billions of scam ads on the platform, the types of scams run the gamut, including cryptocurrency scams, people impersonating celebrities or military personnel asking for money, or advertising “miracle cures to incurable diseases.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12036125\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12036125\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/04/MetaGetty2.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/04/MetaGetty2.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/04/MetaGetty2-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/04/MetaGetty2-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/04/MetaGetty2-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/04/MetaGetty2-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/04/MetaGetty2-1920x1280.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">The Meta, Facebook, Instagram, WhatsApp, Messenger and Threads logos are screened on a mobile phone on Jan. 25, 2025. \u003ccite>(Beata Zawrzel/NurPhoto via Getty Images)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>“As civil prosecutors in Silicon Valley, we can’t allow a company as influential as Meta to continue perpetrating a scheme of this magnitude to deceive and victimize consumers,” he said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The complaint claims Meta is violating false advertising and unfair competition laws, and asks a judge to order an injunction to stop the alleged practices. It also seeks monetary restitution and asks for civil penalties to be levied against Meta, some of which could be turned over to the county to be used for further consumer protection litigation.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The lawsuit rests heavily on internal leaked documents that were first reported by \u003ca href=\"https://www.reuters.com/investigations/meta-is-earning-fortune-deluge-fraudulent-ads-documents-show-2025-11-06/\">Reuters\u003c/a> last fall. A May 2025 company internal presentation estimated that “Meta was involved in one third of all successful Internet scams in the U.S.,” the lawsuit said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The county said Meta has contributed to more than $2.5 billion in losses for Californians in 2024, with seniors hit hardest. “Californians over 60 lost more than $800 million, and nationwide, older adults reported losses more than four times the average,” the county said in a statement.[aside postID=news_12082693 hero='https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/05/CellebriteGetty.jpg']A Meta spokesperson, in an emailed statement on Monday, said the company will fight the lawsuit. The legal action and the reporting it is largely based on distorts the company’s motives and ignores the “full range” of work done to combat scams, the statement said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We aggressively fight scams on and off our platforms because they’re not good for us or the people and businesses that rely on our services. We removed over 159 million scam ads last year alone, launched new tools to protect people and partnered with law enforcement around the globe to disrupt these criminals,” the statement said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>LoPresti said in an interview that the company frequently touts the work it does against scams, while it is simultaneously “putting handcuffs on the fraud prevention teams” it employs.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“What our complaint alleges is that they have told those fraud prevention teams that they can’t do anything that actually impacts revenue by more than 0.15% of Meta’s total overall revenue,” LoPresti said. “So essentially what they’re saying is, ‘You can do your work, we want to brag about it, but we’re gonna make sure it doesn’t impact our bottom line too much.’”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The lawsuit alleges Meta also facilitates scam advertising “by promoting and providing special protections to supposedly ‘vetted’ business partners that make no secret of offering services to support scam advertisers.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Meta’s own systems flag advertisements that are likely scams, but “instead of stopping those ads, the company charges scammers a premium price to run them, a practice that both facilitates and monetizes deception,” the county statement said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11951943\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 1920px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-11951943 size-full\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/06/060123-Meta-Facebook-Instagram-AP-JC-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"The Meta booth at the Game Developers Conference 2023 in San Francisco.\" width=\"1920\" height=\"1280\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/06/060123-Meta-Facebook-Instagram-AP-JC-KQED.jpg 1920w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/06/060123-Meta-Facebook-Instagram-AP-JC-KQED-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/06/060123-Meta-Facebook-Instagram-AP-JC-KQED-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/06/060123-Meta-Facebook-Instagram-AP-JC-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/06/060123-Meta-Facebook-Instagram-AP-JC-KQED-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Santa Clara County is suing Facebook’s parent company, Meta, on behalf of all California residents over harmful scam advertisements on the company’s social media platforms. \u003ccite>(Jeff Chiu/AP Photo)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Meta deliberately targets the most vulnerable people with scam ads, the suit said, and those who have clicked on illegitimate ads before will be shown more of them.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Essentially, it’s like a bully finding the weak kid on the playground and making sure that they’re getting all of the attention,” LoPresti said. “The elderly, folks of color, low-income folks are disproportionately impacted by this kind of conduct. And that’s something that we believe really has to stop.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Meta has faced a wave of litigation in recent years, including for allegedly employing addictive features that lead to mental health challenges, for not protecting young people and for using copyrighted material to train artificial intelligence models without permission.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>LoPresti said his office is “excited to litigate” the case and expects to be able to hold Meta accountable for its actions.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We can’t sit idly by when we know good and well that a tech giant is swindling the public to hit a revenue target,” LoPresti said. “Tech might be the lifeblood of Silicon Valley. And we benefit from it, and we celebrate that. But we can’t allow poison into that bloodstream.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/tag/santa-clara-county\">Santa Clara County\u003c/a> is suing Meta, the parent company of Facebook and Instagram, alleging the company is enabling and profiting from billions of scam advertisements circulating on its sites.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The civil lawsuit, filed Monday in Santa Clara County Superior Court, claims Menlo Park-based Meta’s social media platforms carry around 15 billion scam ads daily, hurting seniors, families and small businesses, among its 3.5 billion users.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>County officials said the suit, filed on behalf of all California residents, is the first of its kind to be brought in the state and the first such action by any local civil prosecutor in the nation.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>County Counsel Tony LoPresti said the company earns an estimated $7 billion in annual revenue from “fraudulent or otherwise prohibited advertisements” alone, in some cases by allegedly charging scammers a premium to post the ads.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Meta might be a massive power broker in Silicon Valley and throughout the world, but Meta is not a company above the law,” LoPresti said during a press conference on Monday morning announcing the legal action.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>He said with billions of scam ads on the platform, the types of scams run the gamut, including cryptocurrency scams, people impersonating celebrities or military personnel asking for money, or advertising “miracle cures to incurable diseases.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12036125\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12036125\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/04/MetaGetty2.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/04/MetaGetty2.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/04/MetaGetty2-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/04/MetaGetty2-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/04/MetaGetty2-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/04/MetaGetty2-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/04/MetaGetty2-1920x1280.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">The Meta, Facebook, Instagram, WhatsApp, Messenger and Threads logos are screened on a mobile phone on Jan. 25, 2025. \u003ccite>(Beata Zawrzel/NurPhoto via Getty Images)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>“As civil prosecutors in Silicon Valley, we can’t allow a company as influential as Meta to continue perpetrating a scheme of this magnitude to deceive and victimize consumers,” he said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The complaint claims Meta is violating false advertising and unfair competition laws, and asks a judge to order an injunction to stop the alleged practices. It also seeks monetary restitution and asks for civil penalties to be levied against Meta, some of which could be turned over to the county to be used for further consumer protection litigation.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The lawsuit rests heavily on internal leaked documents that were first reported by \u003ca href=\"https://www.reuters.com/investigations/meta-is-earning-fortune-deluge-fraudulent-ads-documents-show-2025-11-06/\">Reuters\u003c/a> last fall. A May 2025 company internal presentation estimated that “Meta was involved in one third of all successful Internet scams in the U.S.,” the lawsuit said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The county said Meta has contributed to more than $2.5 billion in losses for Californians in 2024, with seniors hit hardest. “Californians over 60 lost more than $800 million, and nationwide, older adults reported losses more than four times the average,” the county said in a statement.\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>A Meta spokesperson, in an emailed statement on Monday, said the company will fight the lawsuit. The legal action and the reporting it is largely based on distorts the company’s motives and ignores the “full range” of work done to combat scams, the statement said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We aggressively fight scams on and off our platforms because they’re not good for us or the people and businesses that rely on our services. We removed over 159 million scam ads last year alone, launched new tools to protect people and partnered with law enforcement around the globe to disrupt these criminals,” the statement said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>LoPresti said in an interview that the company frequently touts the work it does against scams, while it is simultaneously “putting handcuffs on the fraud prevention teams” it employs.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“What our complaint alleges is that they have told those fraud prevention teams that they can’t do anything that actually impacts revenue by more than 0.15% of Meta’s total overall revenue,” LoPresti said. “So essentially what they’re saying is, ‘You can do your work, we want to brag about it, but we’re gonna make sure it doesn’t impact our bottom line too much.’”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The lawsuit alleges Meta also facilitates scam advertising “by promoting and providing special protections to supposedly ‘vetted’ business partners that make no secret of offering services to support scam advertisers.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Meta’s own systems flag advertisements that are likely scams, but “instead of stopping those ads, the company charges scammers a premium price to run them, a practice that both facilitates and monetizes deception,” the county statement said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11951943\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 1920px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-11951943 size-full\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/06/060123-Meta-Facebook-Instagram-AP-JC-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"The Meta booth at the Game Developers Conference 2023 in San Francisco.\" width=\"1920\" height=\"1280\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/06/060123-Meta-Facebook-Instagram-AP-JC-KQED.jpg 1920w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/06/060123-Meta-Facebook-Instagram-AP-JC-KQED-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/06/060123-Meta-Facebook-Instagram-AP-JC-KQED-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/06/060123-Meta-Facebook-Instagram-AP-JC-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/06/060123-Meta-Facebook-Instagram-AP-JC-KQED-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Santa Clara County is suing Facebook’s parent company, Meta, on behalf of all California residents over harmful scam advertisements on the company’s social media platforms. \u003ccite>(Jeff Chiu/AP Photo)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Meta deliberately targets the most vulnerable people with scam ads, the suit said, and those who have clicked on illegitimate ads before will be shown more of them.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Essentially, it’s like a bully finding the weak kid on the playground and making sure that they’re getting all of the attention,” LoPresti said. “The elderly, folks of color, low-income folks are disproportionately impacted by this kind of conduct. And that’s something that we believe really has to stop.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Meta has faced a wave of litigation in recent years, including for allegedly employing addictive features that lead to mental health challenges, for not protecting young people and for using copyrighted material to train artificial intelligence models without permission.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>LoPresti said his office is “excited to litigate” the case and expects to be able to hold Meta accountable for its actions.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We can’t sit idly by when we know good and well that a tech giant is swindling the public to hit a revenue target,” LoPresti said. “Tech might be the lifeblood of Silicon Valley. And we benefit from it, and we celebrate that. But we can’t allow poison into that bloodstream.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
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"content": "\u003cp>\u003cb>Here are the morning’s top stories on Wednesday, April 15, 2026\u003c/b>\u003c/p>\n\u003cul>\n\u003cli style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">KQED has obtained surveillance video of a mass use of force incident at the Central California Women’s Facility. It’s the first detailed look at the August 2024 incident that resulted in the largest disciplinary action from a single use of force event. \u003c/span>\u003c/li>\n\u003cli style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u003ca href=\"https://laist.com/news/politics/eric-swalwell-congressman-california-governor-race-sexual-assault-allegations-lonna-drewes\">Another woman has come forward\u003c/a> to accuse former California Congressman Eric Swalwell of sexual assault. Meanwhile, G\u003c/span>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">overnor Gavin Newsom is \u003ca href=\"https://www.gov.ca.gov/2026/04/14/governor-newsom-issues-proclamation-setting-special-election-for-california-congressional-district-14/\">calling a special election\u003c/a> to fill Swalwell’s congressional seat. \u003c/span>\u003c/li>\n\u003cli style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">An independent privacy audit of Google, Meta and Microsoft web traffic in California found the firms may be violating state privacy laws, potentially exposing themselves to significant fines.\u003c/span>\u003c/li>\n\u003c/ul>\n\u003ch2>\u003cstrong>‘I thought I was going to die’: video shows mass force at California women’s prison\u003c/strong>\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>Surveillance footage newly obtained by KQED sheds light on a \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12004368/like-a-war-zone-prison-officers-used-unprecedented-force-in-august-attack-incarcerated-women-say\">mass use-of-force incident\u003c/a> at the \u003ca href=\"https://www.cdcr.ca.gov/facility-locator/ccwf/\">Central California Women’s Facility\u003c/a> in 2024. The incident resulted in discipline for more than 40 staff members, according to the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation, and $1.9 million in payouts to some of the women injured during the incident.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>On the morning of Aug. 2, 2024, officers relocated more than 150 women to the dining hall in order to conduct a large-scale search of their cells. The women were held there for hours without access to food or medication, as tensions built and temperatures rose above 100 degrees, according to court filings. Officers deployed chemical agents, batons and physical force on dozens of incarcerated people.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The surveillance footage, obtained through a public records request to\u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/tag/california-department-of-corrections-and-rehabilitation\"> CDCR\u003c/a>, provides the first detailed view of how the incident unfolded. CDCR has not released officers’ body-camera video or disciplinary records requested by KQED. Previously leaked footage edited and made public by a \u003ca href=\"https://hectorbravoshow.com/\">former correctional lieutenant turned YouTuber\u003c/a> provided only limited insight into the incident.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Angelina Hernandez, who was inside the dining hall at the time and has since been released, said watching the footage again was emotional. “I really thought I was going to die that day,” Hernandez said. “These officers are supposed to protect us, not attack us.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Dozens of officers file into the chow hall around 12:30 p.m. and form what appears to be a skirmish line, many holding pepper spray canisters at the ready, the footage shows. Over several minutes, more officers join the formation, growing to what appears to be 40 to 50 officers positioned across the room. While there is no audio captured on the surveillance footage, things appear tense with some of the incarcerated women gesticulating and shouting at the line of officers.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Kenneth Jimenez, a retired lieutenant who reviewed the footage, said officers must be facing an imminent threat in order to justify deploying force. Jimenez is familiar with use of force policy, which he taught to both peace officers and civilians across the state. “I don’t see anybody approaching in a threatening manner,” he said as he watched the video. “I don’t see anything that’s imminent,” Jimenez added that instead of using force officers could have instead restrained a small number of individuals and removed them from the scene.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>CDCR did not answer specific questions about whether the force used was excessive, but said policies were violated that day and that “corrective action” was taken.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2 class=\"ArticlePage-headline\">\u003ca href=\"https://laist.com/news/politics/eric-swalwell-congressman-california-governor-race-sexual-assault-allegations-lonna-drewes\">\u003cstrong>Another woman accuses former Congressmember Eric Swalwell of sexual assault\u003c/strong>\u003c/a>\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>A California woman on Tuesday said she was raped by former Congressman \u003cspan class=\"LinkEnhancement\">\u003ca class=\"Link AnClick-LinkEnhancement\" href=\"https://apnews.com/article/congress-ethics-swalwell-california-governor-a1626c5f4dbcc16c85f4313a8d7e5464\" data-gtm-enhancement-style=\"LinkEnhancementA\">Eric Swalwell\u003c/a>\u003c/span> in 2018 and now plans to make a report to law enforcement.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Lonna Drewes said during a news conference that the assault occurred at a hotel in Southern California. She said she had one glass of wine that evening and believes Swalwell drugged her before raping her. Swalwell \u003cspan class=\"LinkEnhancement\">\u003ca class=\"Link AnClick-LinkEnhancement\" href=\"https://apnews.com/article/swalwell-democrats-california-governor-campaign-allegations-congress-8b60b0c226f93c691633231053d5ddf9\" data-gtm-enhancement-style=\"LinkEnhancementA\">dropped out\u003c/a>\u003c/span> of the California governor’s race on Sunday and said he would resign from Congress this week following earlier allegations of sexual assault from a different woman. “I did not consent to any sexual activity,” Drewes said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Drewes said she was working as a model and owned a fashion software company based in Beverly Hills when she met Swalwell. He offered to help her with connections to further her company and knew she had an interest in local politics. She had met him twice before the night when she says he raped her. That night, the two met at a restaurant opening and were set to attend a political event, she said. On their way to the event, Drewes said Swalwell wanted to stop back at his hotel room to get some paperwork. By the time they reached the room, she said her limbs felt heavy and she felt like she had been drugged. She said Swalwell raped her and later choked her, causing her to lose consciousness.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Attorney Sara Azari released a statement Tuesday on Swalwell’s behalf saying he “categorically and unequivocally denies each and every allegation of sexual misconduct and assault that has been leveled against him.” She pledged to “pursue every available legal remedy against those responsible for orchestrating this reprehensible campaign of lies.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>This comes on the same day that \u003ca href=\"https://www.pbs.org/newshour/show/swalwell-resigning-from-congress-after-sexual-assault-accusations\">Swalwell resigned from Congress.\u003c/a> Governor Gavin Newsom has called \u003ca href=\"https://www.gov.ca.gov/2026/04/14/governor-newsom-issues-proclamation-setting-special-election-for-california-congressional-district-14/\">a special election for August 18\u003c/a>, to fill the remainder of Swalwell’s term.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2 class=\"routes-Site-routes-Post-Title-__Title__title\">\u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12079887/what-is-the-point-of-californias-privacy-laws-if-big-tech-ignores-them\">\u003cstrong>What is the point of California’s privacy laws if Big Tech ignores them?\u003c/strong>\u003c/a>\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>An independent review of \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/category/technology\">Microsoft, Meta and Google\u003c/a> web traffic in \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/tag/california\">California\u003c/a> in March found the tech companies may have violated state regulations around internet privacy.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The \u003ca href=\"https://globalprivacyaudit.org/2026/california\">audit\u003c/a>, by \u003ca href=\"https://webxray.ai/\">webXray\u003c/a>, also said that nearly 200 online advertising services ignored “legally defined, globally standard, opt-out signals” around data sharing, along with more than half of nearly 7,000 websites in California, despite user requests to opt-out of cookie tracking, the most visible opt-out mechanism the laws require. This is despite the \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11792899/the-california-consumer-privacy-act-mandates-what-again-exactly\">California Consumer Privacy Act\u003c/a>, as expanded by the\u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11801063/get-ready-for-another-consumer-privacy-initiative-in-california#:~:text=Listen,to%20the%20Attorney%20General's%20Office.\"> California Privacy Rights Act\u003c/a> and\u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11844163/proposition-24-californians-say-yes-to-expanding-on-nations-toughest-data-privacy-law\"> other state privacy legislation\u003c/a>, enforced by both the state attorney general’s office and the California Privacy Protection Agency.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Our findings reveal major technology companies simply ignore globally defined opt-out signals, raising the spectre of industrial-scale non-compliance with California requirements,” the \u003ca href=\"https://globalprivacyaudit.org/2026/california\">report’s\u003c/a> website states.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Businesses that sell or share your personal information are legally required to honor the \u003ca href=\"https://oag.ca.gov/privacy/ccpa/gpc\">Global Privacy Control\u003c/a>, a “stop selling or sharing my data” switch available on web browsers, or as a browser extension.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad floatright]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The company that conducted the audit, webXray, was founded by Timothy Libert, a privacy expert who led cookie policy and compliance at \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/tag/google\">Google\u003c/a> offices in Sunnyvale from 2021 to 2023. Libert spent 15 years in academia studying the topic and worked as a consultant for national and state regulators before his time at Google.\u003c/p>\n\n",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>\u003cb>Here are the morning’s top stories on Wednesday, April 15, 2026\u003c/b>\u003c/p>\n\u003cul>\n\u003cli style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">KQED has obtained surveillance video of a mass use of force incident at the Central California Women’s Facility. It’s the first detailed look at the August 2024 incident that resulted in the largest disciplinary action from a single use of force event. \u003c/span>\u003c/li>\n\u003cli style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u003ca href=\"https://laist.com/news/politics/eric-swalwell-congressman-california-governor-race-sexual-assault-allegations-lonna-drewes\">Another woman has come forward\u003c/a> to accuse former California Congressman Eric Swalwell of sexual assault. Meanwhile, G\u003c/span>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">overnor Gavin Newsom is \u003ca href=\"https://www.gov.ca.gov/2026/04/14/governor-newsom-issues-proclamation-setting-special-election-for-california-congressional-district-14/\">calling a special election\u003c/a> to fill Swalwell’s congressional seat. \u003c/span>\u003c/li>\n\u003cli style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">An independent privacy audit of Google, Meta and Microsoft web traffic in California found the firms may be violating state privacy laws, potentially exposing themselves to significant fines.\u003c/span>\u003c/li>\n\u003c/ul>\n\u003ch2>\u003cstrong>‘I thought I was going to die’: video shows mass force at California women’s prison\u003c/strong>\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>Surveillance footage newly obtained by KQED sheds light on a \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12004368/like-a-war-zone-prison-officers-used-unprecedented-force-in-august-attack-incarcerated-women-say\">mass use-of-force incident\u003c/a> at the \u003ca href=\"https://www.cdcr.ca.gov/facility-locator/ccwf/\">Central California Women’s Facility\u003c/a> in 2024. The incident resulted in discipline for more than 40 staff members, according to the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation, and $1.9 million in payouts to some of the women injured during the incident.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>On the morning of Aug. 2, 2024, officers relocated more than 150 women to the dining hall in order to conduct a large-scale search of their cells. The women were held there for hours without access to food or medication, as tensions built and temperatures rose above 100 degrees, according to court filings. Officers deployed chemical agents, batons and physical force on dozens of incarcerated people.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The surveillance footage, obtained through a public records request to\u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/tag/california-department-of-corrections-and-rehabilitation\"> CDCR\u003c/a>, provides the first detailed view of how the incident unfolded. CDCR has not released officers’ body-camera video or disciplinary records requested by KQED. Previously leaked footage edited and made public by a \u003ca href=\"https://hectorbravoshow.com/\">former correctional lieutenant turned YouTuber\u003c/a> provided only limited insight into the incident.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Angelina Hernandez, who was inside the dining hall at the time and has since been released, said watching the footage again was emotional. “I really thought I was going to die that day,” Hernandez said. “These officers are supposed to protect us, not attack us.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Dozens of officers file into the chow hall around 12:30 p.m. and form what appears to be a skirmish line, many holding pepper spray canisters at the ready, the footage shows. Over several minutes, more officers join the formation, growing to what appears to be 40 to 50 officers positioned across the room. While there is no audio captured on the surveillance footage, things appear tense with some of the incarcerated women gesticulating and shouting at the line of officers.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Kenneth Jimenez, a retired lieutenant who reviewed the footage, said officers must be facing an imminent threat in order to justify deploying force. Jimenez is familiar with use of force policy, which he taught to both peace officers and civilians across the state. “I don’t see anybody approaching in a threatening manner,” he said as he watched the video. “I don’t see anything that’s imminent,” Jimenez added that instead of using force officers could have instead restrained a small number of individuals and removed them from the scene.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>CDCR did not answer specific questions about whether the force used was excessive, but said policies were violated that day and that “corrective action” was taken.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2 class=\"ArticlePage-headline\">\u003ca href=\"https://laist.com/news/politics/eric-swalwell-congressman-california-governor-race-sexual-assault-allegations-lonna-drewes\">\u003cstrong>Another woman accuses former Congressmember Eric Swalwell of sexual assault\u003c/strong>\u003c/a>\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>A California woman on Tuesday said she was raped by former Congressman \u003cspan class=\"LinkEnhancement\">\u003ca class=\"Link AnClick-LinkEnhancement\" href=\"https://apnews.com/article/congress-ethics-swalwell-california-governor-a1626c5f4dbcc16c85f4313a8d7e5464\" data-gtm-enhancement-style=\"LinkEnhancementA\">Eric Swalwell\u003c/a>\u003c/span> in 2018 and now plans to make a report to law enforcement.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Lonna Drewes said during a news conference that the assault occurred at a hotel in Southern California. She said she had one glass of wine that evening and believes Swalwell drugged her before raping her. Swalwell \u003cspan class=\"LinkEnhancement\">\u003ca class=\"Link AnClick-LinkEnhancement\" href=\"https://apnews.com/article/swalwell-democrats-california-governor-campaign-allegations-congress-8b60b0c226f93c691633231053d5ddf9\" data-gtm-enhancement-style=\"LinkEnhancementA\">dropped out\u003c/a>\u003c/span> of the California governor’s race on Sunday and said he would resign from Congress this week following earlier allegations of sexual assault from a different woman. “I did not consent to any sexual activity,” Drewes said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Drewes said she was working as a model and owned a fashion software company based in Beverly Hills when she met Swalwell. He offered to help her with connections to further her company and knew she had an interest in local politics. She had met him twice before the night when she says he raped her. That night, the two met at a restaurant opening and were set to attend a political event, she said. On their way to the event, Drewes said Swalwell wanted to stop back at his hotel room to get some paperwork. By the time they reached the room, she said her limbs felt heavy and she felt like she had been drugged. She said Swalwell raped her and later choked her, causing her to lose consciousness.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Attorney Sara Azari released a statement Tuesday on Swalwell’s behalf saying he “categorically and unequivocally denies each and every allegation of sexual misconduct and assault that has been leveled against him.” She pledged to “pursue every available legal remedy against those responsible for orchestrating this reprehensible campaign of lies.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>This comes on the same day that \u003ca href=\"https://www.pbs.org/newshour/show/swalwell-resigning-from-congress-after-sexual-assault-accusations\">Swalwell resigned from Congress.\u003c/a> Governor Gavin Newsom has called \u003ca href=\"https://www.gov.ca.gov/2026/04/14/governor-newsom-issues-proclamation-setting-special-election-for-california-congressional-district-14/\">a special election for August 18\u003c/a>, to fill the remainder of Swalwell’s term.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2 class=\"routes-Site-routes-Post-Title-__Title__title\">\u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12079887/what-is-the-point-of-californias-privacy-laws-if-big-tech-ignores-them\">\u003cstrong>What is the point of California’s privacy laws if Big Tech ignores them?\u003c/strong>\u003c/a>\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>An independent review of \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/category/technology\">Microsoft, Meta and Google\u003c/a> web traffic in \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/tag/california\">California\u003c/a> in March found the tech companies may have violated state regulations around internet privacy.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The \u003ca href=\"https://globalprivacyaudit.org/2026/california\">audit\u003c/a>, by \u003ca href=\"https://webxray.ai/\">webXray\u003c/a>, also said that nearly 200 online advertising services ignored “legally defined, globally standard, opt-out signals” around data sharing, along with more than half of nearly 7,000 websites in California, despite user requests to opt-out of cookie tracking, the most visible opt-out mechanism the laws require. This is despite the \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11792899/the-california-consumer-privacy-act-mandates-what-again-exactly\">California Consumer Privacy Act\u003c/a>, as expanded by the\u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11801063/get-ready-for-another-consumer-privacy-initiative-in-california#:~:text=Listen,to%20the%20Attorney%20General's%20Office.\"> California Privacy Rights Act\u003c/a> and\u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11844163/proposition-24-californians-say-yes-to-expanding-on-nations-toughest-data-privacy-law\"> other state privacy legislation\u003c/a>, enforced by both the state attorney general’s office and the California Privacy Protection Agency.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Our findings reveal major technology companies simply ignore globally defined opt-out signals, raising the spectre of industrial-scale non-compliance with California requirements,” the \u003ca href=\"https://globalprivacyaudit.org/2026/california\">report’s\u003c/a> website states.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Businesses that sell or share your personal information are legally required to honor the \u003ca href=\"https://oag.ca.gov/privacy/ccpa/gpc\">Global Privacy Control\u003c/a>, a “stop selling or sharing my data” switch available on web browsers, or as a browser extension.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"slug": "save-or-scroll-looksmaxxing-ai-fruit-love-island-bts-arirang-and-meta-lawsuits",
"title": "Save or Scroll: Looksmaxxing, AI Fruit Love Island, BTS Arirang, and Meta Lawsuits",
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"headTitle": "Save or Scroll: Looksmaxxing, AI Fruit Love Island, BTS Arirang, and Meta Lawsuits | KQED",
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"content": "\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"#episode-transcript\">\u003ci>View the full episode transcript.\u003c/i>\u003c/a>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">In a spring installment of \u003c/span>\u003ci>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Save or Scroll\u003c/span>\u003c/i>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">, Morgan teams up with culture journalist Steffi Cao to dig into the stories they can’t stop thinking about. From \u003c/span>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">looksmaxxing to \u003c/span>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">AI Fruit Love Island, BTS’ new album, and Meta losing a landmark series of lawsuits, they’ve got a lot to discuss. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Save or Scroll is our series where we team up with guests for a rapid-fire roundup of internet trends that are filling our feeds right now. At the end of each segment, they’ll decide: is the post just for the group chat, or should we save it for a future episode?\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c!-- iframe plugin v.4.3 wordpress.org/plugins/iframe/ -->\u003cbr>\n\u003ciframe loading=\"lazy\" frameborder=\"0\" height=\"200\" scrolling=\"no\" src=\"https://playlist.megaphone.fm?e=KQINC4630070510\" width=\"100%\" class=\"iframe-class\">\u003c/iframe>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Guest:\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cul>\n\u003cli>\u003ca href=\"https://stefficao.substack.com/\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Steffi Cao\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">, culture journalist \u003c/span>\u003c/li>\n\u003c/ul>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Further Reading/Listening:\u003c/b>\u003c/p>\n\u003cul>\n\u003cli>\u003ca href=\"https://stefficao.substack.com/\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">More from Steffi Cao\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\"> — \u003c/span>\u003ci>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Substack\u003c/span>\u003c/i>\u003c/li>\n\u003cli>\u003ci>\u003c/i>\u003ca href=\"https://www.gq.com/story/inside-claviculars-thirsty-tour-of-new-york-city\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Inside Clavicular’s Thirsty Tour of New York City \u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">— Kieran Press-Reynolds, \u003c/span>\u003ci>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">GQ\u003c/span>\u003c/i>\u003c/li>\n\u003cli>\u003ci>\u003c/i>\u003ca href=\"https://www.thedailybeast.com/in-gen-z-gym-culture-steroids-are-often-a-gateway-drug-to-the-alt-right/\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Why Steroids Are Now Turning Young Men into Dangerous Incels\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\"> — Steffi Cao, \u003c/span>\u003ci>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">The Daily Beast\u003c/span>\u003c/i>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\"> \u003c/span>\u003c/li>\n\u003cli>\u003ca href=\"https://www.fastcompany.com/91519147/fruit-love-island-tiktok-most-popular-ai-generated-series-now-facing-trouble-in-paradise\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">‘Fruit Love Island’ is TikTok’s most popular AI-generated series. It’s now facing trouble in paradise \u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">— Jude Cramer, \u003c/span>\u003ci>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Fast Company \u003c/span>\u003c/i>\u003c/li>\n\u003cli>\u003ci>\u003c/i>\u003ca href=\"https://www.wired.com/story/theres-something-very-dark-about-a-lot-of-those-viral-ai-fruit-videos/\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">There’s Something Very Dark About a Lot of Those Viral AI Fruit Videos \u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">— Kat Tenbarge, \u003c/span>\u003ci>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Wired \u003c/span>\u003c/i>\u003c/li>\n\u003cli>\u003ci>\u003c/i>\u003ca href=\"https://www.teenvogue.com/story/who-decides-if-bts-album-arirang-is-korean-enough-op-ed\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Who Decides If BTS’s Album ‘Arirang’ is ‘Korean Enough’? \u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">— Jiye Kim, \u003c/span>\u003ci>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Teen Vogue \u003c/span>\u003c/i>\u003c/li>\n\u003cli>\u003ci>\u003c/i>\u003ca href=\"https://slate.com/culture/2026/03/bts-arirang-album-netflix-swim-comeback-concert-2026.html\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">BTS’s Arirang comeback was supposed to be a triumph. What happened?\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\"> — Nadira Goffe, \u003c/span>\u003ci>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Slate \u003c/span>\u003c/i>\u003c/li>\n\u003cli>\u003ci>\u003c/i>\u003ca href=\"https://19thnews.org/2026/03/social-media-addiction-trial-meta-youtube/\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Meta and YouTube ordered to pay $3 million to young woman in social media addiction trial\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\"> — Jasmine Mithani, \u003c/span>\u003ci>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">The 19th\u003c/span>\u003c/i>\u003c/li>\n\u003cli>\u003ci>\u003c/i>\u003ca href=\"https://www.newyorker.com/news/the-lede/what-the-verdict-against-meta-and-google-says-about-the-way-we-live-now\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">What the Verdict Against Meta and Google Says About the Way We Live Now\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\"> — Jeannie Suk Gersen, \u003c/span>\u003ci>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">The New Yorker \u003c/span>\u003c/i>\u003c/li>\n\u003cli>\u003ci>\u003c/i>\u003ca href=\"https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ype6c6DdHQY\">The Truth About the Social Media Addiction Trial\u003c/a> — Taylor Lorenz, \u003ci>Free Speech Friday \u003c/i>\u003c/li>\n\u003c/ul>\n\u003cp>Want to give us feedback on the show? Shoot us an email at \u003ca href=\"mailto:CloseAllTabs@KQED.org\">CloseAllTabs@KQED.org\u003c/a>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Follow us on\u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"https://www.instagram.com/closealltabspod/\"> \u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Instagram\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\"> and\u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"https://www.tiktok.com/@closealltabs\"> \u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">TikTok\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2 id=\"episode-transcript\">Episode Transcript\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>\u003ci>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">This is a computer-generated transcript. While our team has reviewed it, there may be errors.\u003c/span>\u003c/i>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Morgan Sung: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Hey, it’s Morgan. We just celebrated the show’s first birthday. That’s right, Close All Tabs is a Pisces. Want to celebrate with us? It would be so, so helpful if you could rate and review us on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to the show. And tell your friends about us too. Okay, let’s get to the episode.\u003cbr>\n\u003c/span>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u003cbr>\n\u003c/span>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Hey guys, welcome to Close All Tabs. I’m Morgan Sung, tech journalist and your chronically online friend, here to open as many browser tabs as it takes to help you understand how the digital world affects our real lives. Except today, we aren’t opening any tabs. Instead, we’re doing another Save or Scroll. We’ve done a few of these now. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Occasionally, while scrolling, I come across a truly wild post, but it might not make sense to spend an entire episode on it. Maybe I do a little digging and it turns out that the lore behind it just isn’t compelling enough to justify a deep dive, but I’m still dying to talk about it. And this is the beauty of Save or Scroll, the game where a guest comes to the show and we trade stories from the internet that we’re dying to talk about. Today, we have the one and only Steffi Cao. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Steffi Cao: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Thank you so much for having me, Morgan. I’m so excited. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Morgan Sung: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Okay, Steffi, tell us about yourself. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Steffi Cao: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Hi everyone, I’m Steffi, I am a culture journalist and Slate’s newest dating advice columnist for Unhinged. You can find my writing everywhere from The Atlantic, to Rolling Stone, to The Guardian, to Slate now, so I’m very excited to share all my tabs and work in today. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Morgan Sung: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Okay, so let’s talk about the rules of Save or Scroll. Save, as in when you see a post on TikTok or Instagram or X and you bookmark it, add it to your save folders or if you’re me, drop it in notes app and hope that you’ll remember it’s there. Basically, you’re holding onto the story because you know you’ll want to dig into it more. And scroll, as you think about it and then move on. It disappears into the digital ether.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>So Steffi and I have each brought some stories that we can’t stop thinking about, and we’re gonna go back and forth to decide if they’re worth a deep dive on the show. So if we decide to scroll, it means we’ve talked about it, we’re moving on. And if we save, it means that we might hold onto the idea for a future episode.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Okay, Steffi, please tell us about looksmaxxing. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Steffi Cao: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Over the past few years, looksmaxxing is the subculture of young men primarily who are seeking guidance from other men in terms of how to gamify their looks to become super, super hot. The essence of looksmaxxing is basically ‘the hotter I can be, the better my life will be around other men.’ And the pinnacle of these content creators currently is a man named Clavicular of collarbone fame.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>He’s a 20-year-old white man who has a very soft elfin face and a Dorito-shaped body and has really been associated with a lot of, like, Nazi ideology, has been recently arrested for inciting a fight between two women, allegedly and also allegedly shooting an alligator in Florida. He was kicked out of Las Vegas, I believe, and has become this sort of lightning rod for this entire culture of all these men wanting to get hotter and be hotter.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Morgan Sung: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Yeah and Clavicular first went viral for not only his extensive skin care and workout routine, but for also saying that he microdoses meth and would hit his face with a hammer to get a more, I guess, angular jawline. What a man. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Steffi Cao: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">What a guy. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Morgan Sung: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">What a character. Clavicular is so fascinating to me because his political stances are indecipherable. He has gone on some more right-leaning podcasts, and when they try to get him to be kind of transphobic, he said… \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ci>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">[Clavicular in audio clip]\u003cbr>\nI did a podcast with Michael Knowles the other day and he’s sitting here saying like and getting all mad about transgenders and I’m like bro that’s one more person a mog you know what I mean so like I don’t get too I don’t get too upset when people go trans and all that shit. \u003c/span>\u003c/i>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Morgan Sung: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">That’s just another person to mog. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Steffi Cao: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Yes. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Morgan Sung: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">How would you describe mogging? \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Steffi Cao: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Mogging, I think, is the essence of being hotter than somebody else. So if you’ve mogged them, it’s like you’ve shown them up in some way. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ci>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">[Audio clip of Clavicular on the Adam Friedland Show] \u003c/span>\u003c/i>\u003ci>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u003cbr>\n\u003c/span>\u003c/i>\u003ci>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Clavicular: That’s the goal of the game, right, is to mog other people, right? \u003c/span>\u003c/i>\u003ci>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u003cbr>\n\u003c/span>\u003c/i>\u003ci>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Adam: Tell the boomer cells about what that is. \u003c/span>\u003c/i>\u003ci>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u003cbr>\n\u003c/span>\u003c/i>\u003ci>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Clavicular: So, mogging is essentially just, you know, outperforming them, looking better than them, yeah and just sort of dominating, right. It came from something called AMOG, which was alpha male of the group, then it was shortened to just mog, so that’s kind of like the term we use. \u003c/span>\u003c/i>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Steffi Cao: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">So the language has become like a bigger than itself sort of phenomenon where, you know, maxxing and mogging have started from this internal community and then now becomes sort of like general ironic gobbledygook for everybody. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Morgan Sung: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">It’s so interesting too, because the whole looksmaxxing thing has become like the peak Manosphere content. All the allegedly straight boys are really into doing all this to impress other men. It doesn’t seem like they actually do this in any way to appeal to women. And like, I’ve seen a lot of like gay men point out, this is literally gay male culture, what they’re doing, the peacocking, trying to show each other up and like only seek validation from other men, which is from a gender perspective, I’m like, what’s going on here? \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Steffi Cao: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">It feels like horseshoe theory a little bit. They are doing all of these performative things that come right back to a drag of what a straight man is. It’s like it’s heterosexual drag. Like you’re trying to, you know, build up your face a certain way, you’re trying to mog other straight men, like that’s drag, honey. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Morgan Sung: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Like that’s gender performance. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Steffi Cao: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">100% Yeah, I mean, self-improvement leans so well into fascist ideology because a lot of it is predicated on this idea that you can earn your way into something better, which is exactly what looksmaxxing is, right? You can gamify your looks. Like, If you’re not hot now, all you need to do is do all these steps and gain more points, more aura points, until you have achieved this thing.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Which is exactly why in Nazi Germany you see a lot of propaganda being espoused about the strongman. That was a huge beauty standard at that point in Hitler’s Germany, was specifically this idea of a man who is super jacked and is super like, is mogged, really, and I have no other word for it really. It’s just like they really..\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Morgan Sung: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Yeah. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Steffi Cao: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">A mogged man has always been this cultural fascination and in many ways a mogged woman, obviously. Um, has been a huge part of, uh, fascist ideology for a long time. You know, think about all these essays about why Republican women all look the same and they have this specific look about them. And it has a lot to do with this culture of self-improvement and making all these alterations to yourself to try and earn your way or like bootstrap your way into beauty and therefore access and power and all of these things. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Morgan Sung: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Yeah. Okay, well, looksmaxxing, the big thing of the year right now, do we save or do we scroll? \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Steffi Cao: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Oh, I’m saving it because I think there’s going to be developments. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Morgan Sung: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">No, yeah, there are going to be new words that have never been said before. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Steffi Cao: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">It’s going be crazy. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Morgan Sung: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">But looks maxed as a trend, I think we’re saving. After the break, a new bombshell enters the villa. Unfortunately, she’s AI generated and also made of fruit. Steffi and I are going to explain all of the drama around AI Fruit Love Island. Stick around. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Morgan Sung: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">I have a story for you now. Are you familiar with AI Fruit Love Island? \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Steffi Cao: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Oh, am I! Oh my god, I feel like it came out of nowhere and then it’s sudden, it’s like omnipresent now. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Morgan Sung: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">So, for the uninitiated, AI Fruit Love Island was this interactive AI-slop parody of \u003c/span>\u003ci>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Love Island\u003c/span>\u003c/i>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\"> with sexy anthropomorphized fruit. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ci>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">[Clip of Audio from AI Fruit Love Island] \u003c/span>\u003c/i>\u003ci>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u003cbr>\n\u003c/span>\u003c/i>\u003ci>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Host: Welcome Back to Fruit Love Island. Today we’ve got a steamy challenge and after over 370,000 viewer votes, our bombshells have officially hit the villa. All right ladies let’s get this started. You’ll be kissed one by each guy and after each kiss you rate it. \u003c/span>\u003c/i>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Morgan Sung: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Okay, so that is one of the episodes of Fruit Love Island. What was happening in that clip? \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Steffi Cao: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Um, it’s basically just a real \u003c/span>\u003ci>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Love Island\u003c/span>\u003c/i>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\"> challenge, but done with fruit. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Morgan Sung: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Yeah, they have human bodies, um, but their heads are fruit. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Steffi Cao: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">These are all like, obviously done by AI. The colors are highly saturated. It’s super bright, super like in your face. And then a grape man wearing a Hawaiian shirt and, uh, board shorts, like comes up and kisses the fruit ladies blindfolded. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ci>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">[Clip of Audio from AI Fruit Love Island] \u003c/span>\u003c/i>\u003ci>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u003cbr>\n\u003c/span>\u003c/i>\u003ci>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Host: Grapenzo, you’re up first. \u003c/span>\u003c/i>\u003ci>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u003cbr>\n\u003c/span>\u003c/i>\u003ci>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Contestant: That was hot, an 8.5. \u003c/span>\u003c/i>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Steffi Cao: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">You see all these badly done reactions in the background of these AI fruit women laughing and sort of being like, ha ha ha, this is crazy. So it just is like a \u003cem>Love Island\u003c/em> episode, but with fruit. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Morgan Sung: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">So for context, this TikTok account kind of came out of nowhere, AICinema021, and they gained about 3.1 million followers in like a week and a half. And now there are so many copycat accounts. The characters include Limeyra, the lime, Bananito, the banana who has abs and is always shirtless, Strawberrina, the strawberry, Coconick, the sexy coconut. And yeah, it’s not good. \u003c/span>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u003cbr>\n\u003c/span>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">The animation and voices are all stilted. There’s zero consistency. It’s pure slop. So viewers gave storyline feedback via Google Form and voted for their faves in the comments. And this account was getting crazy numbers, like 20 million views per episode at its peak and just churning out new episodes every day. I feel like it used to be kind of embarrassing to enjoy this kind of content, but then you had Zara Larsson and Joe Jonas being like, ‘Oh my God, I can’t wait for the next episode.’ Like major celebrities. But yeah, what’s your like initial gut reaction here? \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Steffi Cao: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">I think it makes sense why this thing is taken off, because even though young people online want to act like only boomers love watching AI slop, the fact is our brains are primed to watch AI slop. We have all these deep fried memes and internet humor is so self-referential, but it removes a lot of these barriers in our heads of consuming something like this that really feels as though, like, okay, maybe, um, what could be embarrassing previously could be ironically fun now. I love it because it’s fascinating to see how excited people get about it. But like, is the content good? No, it’s trash, but I don’t think it’s trying to be good. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Morgan Sung: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Yeah. Well, have you been following the great AI Fruit Love Island crash out… \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Steffi Cao: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">I have not. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Morgan Sung: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">…that happened over the weekend? Okay. So this account literally gained millions and millions of followers, three million followers in like a week and a half, which is insane. Like there are human creators who grind for years to get a third of that. But, you know, this account was able to just churn out content so fast and people were invested. \u003c/span>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u003cbr>\n\u003c/span>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">So basically, people were criticizing the account for being AI slop and criticizing viewers for being slop consumers. And the creator did not respond well. In TikTok comments, they complained about how hard it was to make this content and basically implied that like viewers were ungrateful. A real hilarious irony where they were like, it’s really hard because I have to prompt so many times and the AI sometimes messes up and I have to redo it and then I have edit it together. And it sometimes takes me like three hours to make one of these videos. And it’s like, yeah, well… \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Steffi Cao: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Imagine how long it must take to film a real TV episode? \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Morgan Sung: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">It’s so funny that they’re like, this is so hard, even like having to prompt a generator to be like, and now make Strawberrina kiss the kiwi man is like too much effort. So then their video started getting removed. The creator claimed that it was part of a mass reporting campaign and started crashing onto their story. So this was the first one…they were, I guess, sick of it, right? \u003c/span>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u003cbr>\n\u003c/span>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">They were like, “This is it. I’m sick of all of you.” They were getting criticized for like wasting water basically and people were pointing out like, hey, this is like really sh*tty that you’re kind of encouraging this consumption. So they were posting like, “Was a good run, didn’t expect any of this, but here we are from being a nobody to being cancelled. I guess I’ll take it. People hate to see people win,”. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Steffi Cao: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">That’s awesome! \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Morgan Sung: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">…with screenshots from like their episodes. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Steffi Cao: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">That’t the funniest thing I’ve ever seen. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Morgan Sung: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">“I’m so glad y’all got what you wanted. Saving the planet three gallons of water at a time, truly inspirational. It’s like, f*ck all y’all, you jealous motherf*ckers, save the planet, OMG, water, OMG. I love water, clean water, please clean water. What y’ all sound like.”. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Steffi Cao: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">That’s hilarious. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Morgan Sung: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">“Thanks for 3 million followers though. Wow, I guess some might like it.” Then they posted one final one, basically saying like, this series is over, this is it, with Bananito, a fan favorite, unfortunately, the sexy banana that is never wearing a shirt. Um, and basically they said, “All right, f*ck all you b*tches, no more Fruit Love Island. Since people are so obsessed with it, all my videos banned, I make no money. I guess I am being targeted because no other AI account is getting f*cked. Y’all heard it from Bananito himself. Bye.”. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Steffi Cao: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Bye. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Morgan Sung: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">It’s just really funny because they also got mad that other like copycat AI accounts were like copying their theme, which is a real like, so many layers between like, being mad about the copycats and then being like suddenly like creative integrity matters basically. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Steffi Cao: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Yes. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Morgan Sung: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">And then being mad at like the effort it took to make these videos. The layers of complete unawareness just go so deep. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Steffi Cao: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">[Laughter] It’s one of those things where I’m like, oh, of course, this is where we are. People are so fixated on this idea of it’s fine until it’s me because passive consumption is just so self-centric, you’re only thinking about yourself. So of course this person’s mad that other people are stealing their AI fruit slop content without contributing to the AI slop database that can then pull out more content. Okay. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Morgan Sung: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">It’s like a content self-eating snake, you know? But I will say, there is one glimmer of hope, despite how many people were obsessed with this slop. I would say there’s an equal faction of people who are really into human-made content. And so this inspired several Fruit Love Island non-AI copycats,. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Steffi Cao: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">With real fruit? \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Morgan Sung: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">…which I will show you now, which is really beautiful. I love that people are doing this. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ci>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">[Clip of Audio from Fruit Love Island] \u003c/span>\u003c/i>\u003cb>\u003cbr>\n\u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Host: Welcome to episode one of Fruit Love Island, that’s not AI. I’ve made sure to gather the juiciest of drama in the villa in the past day. Now let’s see what’s happened. \u003c/span>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u003cbr>\n\u003c/span>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Contestant: I’m here to break hearts, not to fall in love. Hopefully these guys don’t get too attached. Or I don’t. I won’t though. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Morgan Sung: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">So it’s basically a similar idea, but it’s not really animated so much as like, there are these photoshopped pictures of like people, human bodies with fruits for heads. It’s a human being that made this and it’s not as refined, but they did get voice actors on Discord to like volunteer their voices and voice all of this. And so I’m just like really encouraged by the fact that this has kind of blown up this non-AI Fruit Love Island. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Steffi Cao: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">I think that’s beautiful. I think we need to reject modernity and embrace tradition in a lot of ways, because we already had Annoying Orange. We need to bring back the original recipes. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Morgan Sung: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">I know. And like Annoying Orange,I hated that content. I didn’t dread it. But you know what? A human being made it.\u003cbr>\n\u003cb>\u003cbr>\nSteffi Cao: \u003c/b>A human-being made it.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Morgan Sung: \u003c/b>So AI Fruit Love Island, do we save or do we scroll?\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Steffi Cao: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">I’m gonna scroll on it, but I defer to you. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Morgan Sung: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">I’m going to scroll on it too. I think it had a good run. I don’t think we need more of it. I think the crash out was beautiful and hilarious and a real internet moment. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Steffi Cao: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Perfect irony. It’s truly, like, perfect. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Morgan Sung: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Tell us about this next story you brought. What’s going on with BTS’ new album? \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ci>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">[Audio clip of BTS music] \u003c/span>\u003c/i>\u003cb>\u003cbr>\n\u003c/b>\u003ci>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Swim swim, \u003c/span>\u003c/i>\u003ci>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u003cbr>\n\u003c/span>\u003c/i>\u003ci>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">This is how it all begins\u003c/span>\u003c/i>\u003ci>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u003cbr>\n\u003c/span>\u003c/i>\u003ci>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Swim, swim\u003c/span>\u003c/i>\u003ci>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u003cbr>\n\u003c/span>\u003c/i>\u003ci>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">I just wanna dive…\u003c/span>\u003c/i>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Steffi Cao: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">BTS was away in the military for four years, and the K-pop group, who was arguably one of the biggest acts in the industry and has been for many years, returned with an album called Arirang, and it was predominantly sung in English, and because of that, as well as the fact that it was a different sound from what they’ve previously put out in the past, it was, I think, personally sonically more mixed. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ci>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">[Audio clip of BTS music] \u003c/span>\u003c/i>\u003ci>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u003cbr>\n\u003c/span>\u003c/i>\u003ci>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Watch this, watch this, \u003c/span>\u003c/i>\u003ci>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u003cbr>\n\u003c/span>\u003c/i>\u003ci>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Beat going hooligan. \u003c/span>\u003c/i>\u003ci>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u003cbr>\n\u003c/span>\u003c/i>\u003ci>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">We pop out, we actin’ a fool again \u003c/span>\u003c/i>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Steffi Cao: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">It became very controversial. It didn’t also help that when they did their first live performance in Seoul after the fact, there were a lot of statistics reported about how many people actually attended. They shut down a very busy intersection in Seoul saying that 300,000 people were expected to show up. Korean officials, some of them said that as low as 42,000 showed up and there were adverse impacts from store owners who expected a lot of influx but didn’t get that. And so now there’s this huge debate happening about this album, what it means for K-pop in the industry and like how things have shifted, et cetera. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Morgan Sung: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Do you think the fandom has aged out of, like, acting like fans? \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Steffi Cao: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u003cem>[Laughter] \u003c/em>I think that the industry has shifted a lot, and what a fan should act like has changed with it. Because I think in the past, the eternal struggle of a BTS ARMY was trying to convince people that K-pop was a serious art form, that it wasn’t just some silly thing that teen girls listened to, that it was corporate slop pop music, that there were a lot of uphill battles, I think, for a K-Pop fan.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>And I think now, over the past four years, you’ve seen a lot more Western embrace of K-pop as a serious art form, as a legitimate cultural export, and not like a niche subculture. So I think that with “K-Pop Demon Hunters”, you have Blackpink headlining Coachella, you had KATSEYE at Lollapalooza, you had all these bigger acts coming out of a Korean system that I think is legitimized in a different way. And so I think that BTS ARMY doesn’t have to convince anyone anymore that BTS is legit. It has shifted this fan identity of like, okay, well, now what? And now what happens?\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Morgan Sung: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Right, you mentioned that like the entire album is sang in English or like all the lyrics are mostly in English, which is interesting because Arirang is a really culturally important folk song in Korea with a lot of history behind it. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ci>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">[Clip of Arirang sung in Korean from Youtube user @Miss_Taex] \u003c/span>\u003c/i>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Morgan Sung: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">I think people expected a little bit more of that cultural representation with this album. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Steffi Cao: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Yeah, I think BTS has also throughout their career really emphasized their Korean-ness, especially because they tend to sample a lot of traditional Korean music, a lot of Korean culture comes into play into their performances. And so I think that it was disappointing for a lot fans to open up this album and hear Teddy Swims in the song. Right? They end on a country song, which is like, possibly the most American form of music that we associate in mainstream culture. We don’t associate country music with Korea. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Morgan Sung: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Yeah, right. And it’s a hard thing to follow “K-Pop Demon Hunters.” Just like the way that that movie was such a cultural moment and how it introduced so many people to Korean folklore and Korean culture and Korean language. That was a movie that was in English, but a lot of the songs were in Korean. And a lot people who have never spoken Korean learned those songs. And so it’s interesting that BTS wouldn’t see that and like kind of seize the moment. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Steffi Cao: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Yes, 100%. I think that it’s frustrating as a fan to feel like the whole reason that you fell so deeply in love with this group has suddenly shifted under your feet and that the intention of the group’s project didn’t align with where you thought they were going to go. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Morgan Sung: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Yeah. Okay, well, BTS’s new album, do we save or do we scroll? \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Steffi Cao: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">I think. I’m going to personally scroll on it, but I think that there’s a lot to talk about in terms of like Asian artistry. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Morgan Sung: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">There’s a lot to keep an eye on, but personally, don’t come for me, ARMY. I didn’t like the album. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Steffi Cao: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Me either. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Morgan Sung: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">So I’m gonna scroll on it. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Steffi Cao: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Oh! \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Morgan Sung: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">I was just bored. I was bored. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Steffi Cao: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">I’m in ARMY. I’m in ARMY-da. And I got the tickets. Any ARMY that wants to come for me and I will see you at MetLife. I’ve got the tickets. And what now? \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Morgan Sung: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">But you can be disappointed. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Steffi Cao: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">And I’m disappointed in the album. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Morgan Sung: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">You’re allowed to be disappointed. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Steffi Cao: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">I’m disappointed. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Morgan Sung: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">And you’re allowed to scroll. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Steffi Cao: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">And I am allowed to scroll on it. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Morgan Sung: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Okay, last story for today. The Meta lawsuits. Okay, so Meta faced two separate lawsuits: one in California over social media addiction and one in New Mexico for child safety. The one in California took place in LA and it centered around this 20 year-old woman who said that she became addicted to YouTube and Instagram as a child. And that that greatly affected her mental health.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>So Snapchat and TikTok were also both defendants, but they settled before it went to court. And a jury in LA found Google and Meta both negligent because the design of their apps encourages infinite scrolling. And the companies didn’t warn users about the dangers of that. So the plaintiff’s lawyer said that both Meta and Google intentionally target kids and prioritize profit over safety. \u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u003cbr>\n\u003c/span>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u003cbr>\nThe jury concluded that Meta is liable for $4.2 million in damages, and Google is liable for $1.8 million. And then for the case in New Mexico, the state sued Meta over child safety issues. Former employees testified that underage users were shown sexualized content on Instagram and were exposed to predators. And during the court proceedings, they said that Meta’s decision to encrypt Facebook Messenger blocked access to evidence of predators grooming minors. And basically, this is the first time that New Mexico, as a state, was able to successfully sue Meta. So now Meta was ordered to pay $375 million.\u003cbr>\n\u003c/span>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u003cbr>\n\u003c/span>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">So these lawsuits are being celebrated as huge wins for child safety and kind of taking down these evil tech companies. But I’m kind of skeptical of big companies like Meta and Google actually changing their practices. And whenever I hear like child safety social media lawsuit or like child safety and social media in the same sentence, I’m like, everyone wants kids to be safe. Everyone wants to protect the kids. No one wants to expose kids to predators or inappropriate content. But alarm bells are going off in my head where I’m, like, will they be using this to justify more surveillance and more censorship and more practices like age verification, which we’ve covered a lot on this show. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Steffi Cao: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">I mean, it makes sense that there’s a lot of cynicism around these child safety lawsuits because what we’ve seen over our careers is that every time there has been one of these landmark lawsuits, it’s like, what is it actually put into practice? People have been concerned about this topic for many, many years, but it feels like the people who are in Congress still miss the mark on the concept of social media as itself. We’ve seen endless clips of Congress people essentially asking Mark Zuckerberg for tech help during Senate hearings. Yeah. So it makes sense that this verdict, even though it’s being lauded as a huge case, I’m not convinced on it either. We’ve seen Meta pay up a lot in the past, and it hasn’t seemed to really shift the needle at all. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Morgan Sung: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">And it’s like, if anything, the practices don’t change. Kids aren’t necessarily safer. And everyone else is a little bit more surveilled and censored, like, with the current wave of age verification requirements, like, sweeping any internet platform whatsoever, where you have to put in your ID to continue using Spotify in some countries and I really distrust that. And, I do kind of worry that like any kind of trying to like ensure child safety on social media will just be used to justify more age verification laws. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Steffi Cao: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Yeah, 100%. I think that the solution being trusting big tech to manage more of our data and requests that we give up more of privacy is like, it makes a lot of sense as people who’ve grown up online and we’ve seen this play before. It does, I think, breed more of a culture of surveillance.\u003cbr>\n\u003c/span>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u003cbr>\n\u003c/span>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">I think also the problem with this lawsuit is that like, it’s not a silver bullet. Like this is a multi-pronged problem where it’s like a part of it is having adults be smarter about their tech use and teaching their kids to critically analyze the content they’re consuming day in and day out. It’s a lot on the education system.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>It’s on providing structural support for young kids to have more time offline to build all these social skills that when you are isolated and just on your feed even though it can be very fun and exciting to be on Tumblr as a 16-year-old, freewheeling it online, you still need an infrastructure behind you to teach you all these skills that you don’t really get when you are online.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>So it’s like a multi-pronged problem. It really is on every adult, regardless of where you stand, if you have kids or not, to try and train yourself to be better about your own skillset, because they’re kids, they’re just imitating whatever resource is there.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Morgan Sung: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Right, and it’s like, Taylor Lorenz on her Free Speech Friday series pointed out that a lot of kids do still, you still need to let them have agency online in some capacity and just like, you know, a lot kids do rely on these online resources to access information about sex ed or find queer community when they don’t have that in real life and to potentially silo them further and take that away could actually endanger kids. Okay, the child safety lawsuits with Meta and Google, do we save or do we scroll? \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Steffi Cao: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">I feel like we’re going to have to save it because this is going to continue. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Morgan Sung: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Yeah, It’s an evergreen save. This is just collecting more and more tabs every day. Thank you so much for joining us, Steffi. Where can people follow your work? \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Steffi Cao: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Thank you so much for having me, Morgan. You can check me out on Instagram at Steffi Cao, S-T-E-F-F-I-C-A-O, and my sub-stack, It’s Steffi. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Morgan Sung: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Perfect, thanks so much. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Morgan Sung: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Close All Tabs is a production of KQED Studios, and it’s reported and hosted by me, Morgan Sung. This episode was produced by Chris Egusa, who also composed our theme song and credits music. It was edited by Chris Hambrick. Our team includes producer, Maya Cueva. Additional music by APM. Brendan Willard is our audio engineer. Audience engagement support from Maha Sanad. Jen Chien is our director of podcasts. Ethan Toven Lindsey is our editor in chief. Some members of the KQED podcast team are represented by the Screen Actors Guild, American Federation of Television and Radio Artists, San Francisco, Northern California Local. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Do you like these deep dives? Are you closing your tabs? Then don’t forget to rate and review us on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to the show. Maybe drop a comment too. Thanks for listening. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ci>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\"> \u003c/span>\u003c/i>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad floatright]\u003c/p>\n",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"#episode-transcript\">\u003ci>View the full episode transcript.\u003c/i>\u003c/a>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">In a spring installment of \u003c/span>\u003ci>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Save or Scroll\u003c/span>\u003c/i>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">, Morgan teams up with culture journalist Steffi Cao to dig into the stories they can’t stop thinking about. From \u003c/span>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">looksmaxxing to \u003c/span>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">AI Fruit Love Island, BTS’ new album, and Meta losing a landmark series of lawsuits, they’ve got a lot to discuss. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Save or Scroll is our series where we team up with guests for a rapid-fire roundup of internet trends that are filling our feeds right now. At the end of each segment, they’ll decide: is the post just for the group chat, or should we save it for a future episode?\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c!-- iframe plugin v.4.3 wordpress.org/plugins/iframe/ -->\u003cbr>\n\u003ciframe loading=\"lazy\" frameborder=\"0\" height=\"200\" scrolling=\"no\" src=\"https://playlist.megaphone.fm?e=KQINC4630070510\" width=\"100%\" class=\"iframe-class\">\u003c/iframe>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Guest:\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cul>\n\u003cli>\u003ca href=\"https://stefficao.substack.com/\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Steffi Cao\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">, culture journalist \u003c/span>\u003c/li>\n\u003c/ul>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Further Reading/Listening:\u003c/b>\u003c/p>\n\u003cul>\n\u003cli>\u003ca href=\"https://stefficao.substack.com/\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">More from Steffi Cao\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\"> — \u003c/span>\u003ci>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Substack\u003c/span>\u003c/i>\u003c/li>\n\u003cli>\u003ci>\u003c/i>\u003ca href=\"https://www.gq.com/story/inside-claviculars-thirsty-tour-of-new-york-city\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Inside Clavicular’s Thirsty Tour of New York City \u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">— Kieran Press-Reynolds, \u003c/span>\u003ci>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">GQ\u003c/span>\u003c/i>\u003c/li>\n\u003cli>\u003ci>\u003c/i>\u003ca href=\"https://www.thedailybeast.com/in-gen-z-gym-culture-steroids-are-often-a-gateway-drug-to-the-alt-right/\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Why Steroids Are Now Turning Young Men into Dangerous Incels\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\"> — Steffi Cao, \u003c/span>\u003ci>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">The Daily Beast\u003c/span>\u003c/i>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\"> \u003c/span>\u003c/li>\n\u003cli>\u003ca href=\"https://www.fastcompany.com/91519147/fruit-love-island-tiktok-most-popular-ai-generated-series-now-facing-trouble-in-paradise\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">‘Fruit Love Island’ is TikTok’s most popular AI-generated series. It’s now facing trouble in paradise \u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">— Jude Cramer, \u003c/span>\u003ci>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Fast Company \u003c/span>\u003c/i>\u003c/li>\n\u003cli>\u003ci>\u003c/i>\u003ca href=\"https://www.wired.com/story/theres-something-very-dark-about-a-lot-of-those-viral-ai-fruit-videos/\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">There’s Something Very Dark About a Lot of Those Viral AI Fruit Videos \u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">— Kat Tenbarge, \u003c/span>\u003ci>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Wired \u003c/span>\u003c/i>\u003c/li>\n\u003cli>\u003ci>\u003c/i>\u003ca href=\"https://www.teenvogue.com/story/who-decides-if-bts-album-arirang-is-korean-enough-op-ed\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Who Decides If BTS’s Album ‘Arirang’ is ‘Korean Enough’? \u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">— Jiye Kim, \u003c/span>\u003ci>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Teen Vogue \u003c/span>\u003c/i>\u003c/li>\n\u003cli>\u003ci>\u003c/i>\u003ca href=\"https://slate.com/culture/2026/03/bts-arirang-album-netflix-swim-comeback-concert-2026.html\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">BTS’s Arirang comeback was supposed to be a triumph. What happened?\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\"> — Nadira Goffe, \u003c/span>\u003ci>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Slate \u003c/span>\u003c/i>\u003c/li>\n\u003cli>\u003ci>\u003c/i>\u003ca href=\"https://19thnews.org/2026/03/social-media-addiction-trial-meta-youtube/\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Meta and YouTube ordered to pay $3 million to young woman in social media addiction trial\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\"> — Jasmine Mithani, \u003c/span>\u003ci>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">The 19th\u003c/span>\u003c/i>\u003c/li>\n\u003cli>\u003ci>\u003c/i>\u003ca href=\"https://www.newyorker.com/news/the-lede/what-the-verdict-against-meta-and-google-says-about-the-way-we-live-now\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">What the Verdict Against Meta and Google Says About the Way We Live Now\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\"> — Jeannie Suk Gersen, \u003c/span>\u003ci>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">The New Yorker \u003c/span>\u003c/i>\u003c/li>\n\u003cli>\u003ci>\u003c/i>\u003ca href=\"https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ype6c6DdHQY\">The Truth About the Social Media Addiction Trial\u003c/a> — Taylor Lorenz, \u003ci>Free Speech Friday \u003c/i>\u003c/li>\n\u003c/ul>\n\u003cp>Want to give us feedback on the show? Shoot us an email at \u003ca href=\"mailto:CloseAllTabs@KQED.org\">CloseAllTabs@KQED.org\u003c/a>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Follow us on\u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"https://www.instagram.com/closealltabspod/\"> \u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Instagram\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\"> and\u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"https://www.tiktok.com/@closealltabs\"> \u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">TikTok\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-content post-body\">\u003ch2 id=\"episode-transcript\">Episode Transcript\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>\u003ci>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">This is a computer-generated transcript. While our team has reviewed it, there may be errors.\u003c/span>\u003c/i>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Morgan Sung: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Hey, it’s Morgan. We just celebrated the show’s first birthday. That’s right, Close All Tabs is a Pisces. Want to celebrate with us? It would be so, so helpful if you could rate and review us on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to the show. And tell your friends about us too. Okay, let’s get to the episode.\u003cbr>\n\u003c/span>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u003cbr>\n\u003c/span>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Hey guys, welcome to Close All Tabs. I’m Morgan Sung, tech journalist and your chronically online friend, here to open as many browser tabs as it takes to help you understand how the digital world affects our real lives. Except today, we aren’t opening any tabs. Instead, we’re doing another Save or Scroll. We’ve done a few of these now. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Occasionally, while scrolling, I come across a truly wild post, but it might not make sense to spend an entire episode on it. Maybe I do a little digging and it turns out that the lore behind it just isn’t compelling enough to justify a deep dive, but I’m still dying to talk about it. And this is the beauty of Save or Scroll, the game where a guest comes to the show and we trade stories from the internet that we’re dying to talk about. Today, we have the one and only Steffi Cao. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Steffi Cao: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Thank you so much for having me, Morgan. I’m so excited. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Morgan Sung: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Okay, Steffi, tell us about yourself. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Steffi Cao: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Hi everyone, I’m Steffi, I am a culture journalist and Slate’s newest dating advice columnist for Unhinged. You can find my writing everywhere from The Atlantic, to Rolling Stone, to The Guardian, to Slate now, so I’m very excited to share all my tabs and work in today. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Morgan Sung: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Okay, so let’s talk about the rules of Save or Scroll. Save, as in when you see a post on TikTok or Instagram or X and you bookmark it, add it to your save folders or if you’re me, drop it in notes app and hope that you’ll remember it’s there. Basically, you’re holding onto the story because you know you’ll want to dig into it more. And scroll, as you think about it and then move on. It disappears into the digital ether.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>So Steffi and I have each brought some stories that we can’t stop thinking about, and we’re gonna go back and forth to decide if they’re worth a deep dive on the show. So if we decide to scroll, it means we’ve talked about it, we’re moving on. And if we save, it means that we might hold onto the idea for a future episode.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Okay, Steffi, please tell us about looksmaxxing. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Steffi Cao: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Over the past few years, looksmaxxing is the subculture of young men primarily who are seeking guidance from other men in terms of how to gamify their looks to become super, super hot. The essence of looksmaxxing is basically ‘the hotter I can be, the better my life will be around other men.’ And the pinnacle of these content creators currently is a man named Clavicular of collarbone fame.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>He’s a 20-year-old white man who has a very soft elfin face and a Dorito-shaped body and has really been associated with a lot of, like, Nazi ideology, has been recently arrested for inciting a fight between two women, allegedly and also allegedly shooting an alligator in Florida. He was kicked out of Las Vegas, I believe, and has become this sort of lightning rod for this entire culture of all these men wanting to get hotter and be hotter.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Morgan Sung: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Yeah and Clavicular first went viral for not only his extensive skin care and workout routine, but for also saying that he microdoses meth and would hit his face with a hammer to get a more, I guess, angular jawline. What a man. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Steffi Cao: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">What a guy. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Morgan Sung: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">What a character. Clavicular is so fascinating to me because his political stances are indecipherable. He has gone on some more right-leaning podcasts, and when they try to get him to be kind of transphobic, he said… \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ci>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">[Clavicular in audio clip]\u003cbr>\nI did a podcast with Michael Knowles the other day and he’s sitting here saying like and getting all mad about transgenders and I’m like bro that’s one more person a mog you know what I mean so like I don’t get too I don’t get too upset when people go trans and all that shit. \u003c/span>\u003c/i>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Morgan Sung: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">That’s just another person to mog. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Steffi Cao: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Yes. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Morgan Sung: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">How would you describe mogging? \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Steffi Cao: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Mogging, I think, is the essence of being hotter than somebody else. So if you’ve mogged them, it’s like you’ve shown them up in some way. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ci>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">[Audio clip of Clavicular on the Adam Friedland Show] \u003c/span>\u003c/i>\u003ci>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u003cbr>\n\u003c/span>\u003c/i>\u003ci>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Clavicular: That’s the goal of the game, right, is to mog other people, right? \u003c/span>\u003c/i>\u003ci>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u003cbr>\n\u003c/span>\u003c/i>\u003ci>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Adam: Tell the boomer cells about what that is. \u003c/span>\u003c/i>\u003ci>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u003cbr>\n\u003c/span>\u003c/i>\u003ci>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Clavicular: So, mogging is essentially just, you know, outperforming them, looking better than them, yeah and just sort of dominating, right. It came from something called AMOG, which was alpha male of the group, then it was shortened to just mog, so that’s kind of like the term we use. \u003c/span>\u003c/i>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Steffi Cao: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">So the language has become like a bigger than itself sort of phenomenon where, you know, maxxing and mogging have started from this internal community and then now becomes sort of like general ironic gobbledygook for everybody. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Morgan Sung: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">It’s so interesting too, because the whole looksmaxxing thing has become like the peak Manosphere content. All the allegedly straight boys are really into doing all this to impress other men. It doesn’t seem like they actually do this in any way to appeal to women. And like, I’ve seen a lot of like gay men point out, this is literally gay male culture, what they’re doing, the peacocking, trying to show each other up and like only seek validation from other men, which is from a gender perspective, I’m like, what’s going on here? \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Steffi Cao: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">It feels like horseshoe theory a little bit. They are doing all of these performative things that come right back to a drag of what a straight man is. It’s like it’s heterosexual drag. Like you’re trying to, you know, build up your face a certain way, you’re trying to mog other straight men, like that’s drag, honey. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Morgan Sung: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Like that’s gender performance. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Steffi Cao: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">100% Yeah, I mean, self-improvement leans so well into fascist ideology because a lot of it is predicated on this idea that you can earn your way into something better, which is exactly what looksmaxxing is, right? You can gamify your looks. Like, If you’re not hot now, all you need to do is do all these steps and gain more points, more aura points, until you have achieved this thing.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Which is exactly why in Nazi Germany you see a lot of propaganda being espoused about the strongman. That was a huge beauty standard at that point in Hitler’s Germany, was specifically this idea of a man who is super jacked and is super like, is mogged, really, and I have no other word for it really. It’s just like they really..\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Morgan Sung: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Yeah. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Steffi Cao: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">A mogged man has always been this cultural fascination and in many ways a mogged woman, obviously. Um, has been a huge part of, uh, fascist ideology for a long time. You know, think about all these essays about why Republican women all look the same and they have this specific look about them. And it has a lot to do with this culture of self-improvement and making all these alterations to yourself to try and earn your way or like bootstrap your way into beauty and therefore access and power and all of these things. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Morgan Sung: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Yeah. Okay, well, looksmaxxing, the big thing of the year right now, do we save or do we scroll? \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Steffi Cao: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Oh, I’m saving it because I think there’s going to be developments. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Morgan Sung: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">No, yeah, there are going to be new words that have never been said before. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Steffi Cao: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">It’s going be crazy. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Morgan Sung: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">But looks maxed as a trend, I think we’re saving. After the break, a new bombshell enters the villa. Unfortunately, she’s AI generated and also made of fruit. Steffi and I are going to explain all of the drama around AI Fruit Love Island. Stick around. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Morgan Sung: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">I have a story for you now. Are you familiar with AI Fruit Love Island? \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Steffi Cao: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Oh, am I! Oh my god, I feel like it came out of nowhere and then it’s sudden, it’s like omnipresent now. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Morgan Sung: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">So, for the uninitiated, AI Fruit Love Island was this interactive AI-slop parody of \u003c/span>\u003ci>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Love Island\u003c/span>\u003c/i>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\"> with sexy anthropomorphized fruit. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ci>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">[Clip of Audio from AI Fruit Love Island] \u003c/span>\u003c/i>\u003ci>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u003cbr>\n\u003c/span>\u003c/i>\u003ci>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Host: Welcome Back to Fruit Love Island. Today we’ve got a steamy challenge and after over 370,000 viewer votes, our bombshells have officially hit the villa. All right ladies let’s get this started. You’ll be kissed one by each guy and after each kiss you rate it. \u003c/span>\u003c/i>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Morgan Sung: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Okay, so that is one of the episodes of Fruit Love Island. What was happening in that clip? \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Steffi Cao: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Um, it’s basically just a real \u003c/span>\u003ci>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Love Island\u003c/span>\u003c/i>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\"> challenge, but done with fruit. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Morgan Sung: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Yeah, they have human bodies, um, but their heads are fruit. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Steffi Cao: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">These are all like, obviously done by AI. The colors are highly saturated. It’s super bright, super like in your face. And then a grape man wearing a Hawaiian shirt and, uh, board shorts, like comes up and kisses the fruit ladies blindfolded. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ci>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">[Clip of Audio from AI Fruit Love Island] \u003c/span>\u003c/i>\u003ci>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u003cbr>\n\u003c/span>\u003c/i>\u003ci>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Host: Grapenzo, you’re up first. \u003c/span>\u003c/i>\u003ci>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u003cbr>\n\u003c/span>\u003c/i>\u003ci>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Contestant: That was hot, an 8.5. \u003c/span>\u003c/i>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Steffi Cao: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">You see all these badly done reactions in the background of these AI fruit women laughing and sort of being like, ha ha ha, this is crazy. So it just is like a \u003cem>Love Island\u003c/em> episode, but with fruit. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Morgan Sung: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">So for context, this TikTok account kind of came out of nowhere, AICinema021, and they gained about 3.1 million followers in like a week and a half. And now there are so many copycat accounts. The characters include Limeyra, the lime, Bananito, the banana who has abs and is always shirtless, Strawberrina, the strawberry, Coconick, the sexy coconut. And yeah, it’s not good. \u003c/span>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u003cbr>\n\u003c/span>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">The animation and voices are all stilted. There’s zero consistency. It’s pure slop. So viewers gave storyline feedback via Google Form and voted for their faves in the comments. And this account was getting crazy numbers, like 20 million views per episode at its peak and just churning out new episodes every day. I feel like it used to be kind of embarrassing to enjoy this kind of content, but then you had Zara Larsson and Joe Jonas being like, ‘Oh my God, I can’t wait for the next episode.’ Like major celebrities. But yeah, what’s your like initial gut reaction here? \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Steffi Cao: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">I think it makes sense why this thing is taken off, because even though young people online want to act like only boomers love watching AI slop, the fact is our brains are primed to watch AI slop. We have all these deep fried memes and internet humor is so self-referential, but it removes a lot of these barriers in our heads of consuming something like this that really feels as though, like, okay, maybe, um, what could be embarrassing previously could be ironically fun now. I love it because it’s fascinating to see how excited people get about it. But like, is the content good? No, it’s trash, but I don’t think it’s trying to be good. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Morgan Sung: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Yeah. Well, have you been following the great AI Fruit Love Island crash out… \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Steffi Cao: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">I have not. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Morgan Sung: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">…that happened over the weekend? Okay. So this account literally gained millions and millions of followers, three million followers in like a week and a half, which is insane. Like there are human creators who grind for years to get a third of that. But, you know, this account was able to just churn out content so fast and people were invested. \u003c/span>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u003cbr>\n\u003c/span>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">So basically, people were criticizing the account for being AI slop and criticizing viewers for being slop consumers. And the creator did not respond well. In TikTok comments, they complained about how hard it was to make this content and basically implied that like viewers were ungrateful. A real hilarious irony where they were like, it’s really hard because I have to prompt so many times and the AI sometimes messes up and I have to redo it and then I have edit it together. And it sometimes takes me like three hours to make one of these videos. And it’s like, yeah, well… \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Steffi Cao: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Imagine how long it must take to film a real TV episode? \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Morgan Sung: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">It’s so funny that they’re like, this is so hard, even like having to prompt a generator to be like, and now make Strawberrina kiss the kiwi man is like too much effort. So then their video started getting removed. The creator claimed that it was part of a mass reporting campaign and started crashing onto their story. So this was the first one…they were, I guess, sick of it, right? \u003c/span>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u003cbr>\n\u003c/span>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">They were like, “This is it. I’m sick of all of you.” They were getting criticized for like wasting water basically and people were pointing out like, hey, this is like really sh*tty that you’re kind of encouraging this consumption. So they were posting like, “Was a good run, didn’t expect any of this, but here we are from being a nobody to being cancelled. I guess I’ll take it. People hate to see people win,”. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Steffi Cao: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">That’s awesome! \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Morgan Sung: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">…with screenshots from like their episodes. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Steffi Cao: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">That’t the funniest thing I’ve ever seen. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Morgan Sung: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">“I’m so glad y’all got what you wanted. Saving the planet three gallons of water at a time, truly inspirational. It’s like, f*ck all y’all, you jealous motherf*ckers, save the planet, OMG, water, OMG. I love water, clean water, please clean water. What y’ all sound like.”. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Steffi Cao: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">That’s hilarious. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Morgan Sung: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">“Thanks for 3 million followers though. Wow, I guess some might like it.” Then they posted one final one, basically saying like, this series is over, this is it, with Bananito, a fan favorite, unfortunately, the sexy banana that is never wearing a shirt. Um, and basically they said, “All right, f*ck all you b*tches, no more Fruit Love Island. Since people are so obsessed with it, all my videos banned, I make no money. I guess I am being targeted because no other AI account is getting f*cked. Y’all heard it from Bananito himself. Bye.”. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Steffi Cao: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Bye. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Morgan Sung: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">It’s just really funny because they also got mad that other like copycat AI accounts were like copying their theme, which is a real like, so many layers between like, being mad about the copycats and then being like suddenly like creative integrity matters basically. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Steffi Cao: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Yes. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Morgan Sung: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">And then being mad at like the effort it took to make these videos. The layers of complete unawareness just go so deep. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Steffi Cao: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">[Laughter] It’s one of those things where I’m like, oh, of course, this is where we are. People are so fixated on this idea of it’s fine until it’s me because passive consumption is just so self-centric, you’re only thinking about yourself. So of course this person’s mad that other people are stealing their AI fruit slop content without contributing to the AI slop database that can then pull out more content. Okay. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Morgan Sung: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">It’s like a content self-eating snake, you know? But I will say, there is one glimmer of hope, despite how many people were obsessed with this slop. I would say there’s an equal faction of people who are really into human-made content. And so this inspired several Fruit Love Island non-AI copycats,. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Steffi Cao: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">With real fruit? \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Morgan Sung: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">…which I will show you now, which is really beautiful. I love that people are doing this. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ci>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">[Clip of Audio from Fruit Love Island] \u003c/span>\u003c/i>\u003cb>\u003cbr>\n\u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Host: Welcome to episode one of Fruit Love Island, that’s not AI. I’ve made sure to gather the juiciest of drama in the villa in the past day. Now let’s see what’s happened. \u003c/span>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u003cbr>\n\u003c/span>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Contestant: I’m here to break hearts, not to fall in love. Hopefully these guys don’t get too attached. Or I don’t. I won’t though. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Morgan Sung: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">So it’s basically a similar idea, but it’s not really animated so much as like, there are these photoshopped pictures of like people, human bodies with fruits for heads. It’s a human being that made this and it’s not as refined, but they did get voice actors on Discord to like volunteer their voices and voice all of this. And so I’m just like really encouraged by the fact that this has kind of blown up this non-AI Fruit Love Island. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Steffi Cao: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">I think that’s beautiful. I think we need to reject modernity and embrace tradition in a lot of ways, because we already had Annoying Orange. We need to bring back the original recipes. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Morgan Sung: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">I know. And like Annoying Orange,I hated that content. I didn’t dread it. But you know what? A human being made it.\u003cbr>\n\u003cb>\u003cbr>\nSteffi Cao: \u003c/b>A human-being made it.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Morgan Sung: \u003c/b>So AI Fruit Love Island, do we save or do we scroll?\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Steffi Cao: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">I’m gonna scroll on it, but I defer to you. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Morgan Sung: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">I’m going to scroll on it too. I think it had a good run. I don’t think we need more of it. I think the crash out was beautiful and hilarious and a real internet moment. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Steffi Cao: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Perfect irony. It’s truly, like, perfect. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Morgan Sung: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Tell us about this next story you brought. What’s going on with BTS’ new album? \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ci>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">[Audio clip of BTS music] \u003c/span>\u003c/i>\u003cb>\u003cbr>\n\u003c/b>\u003ci>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Swim swim, \u003c/span>\u003c/i>\u003ci>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u003cbr>\n\u003c/span>\u003c/i>\u003ci>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">This is how it all begins\u003c/span>\u003c/i>\u003ci>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u003cbr>\n\u003c/span>\u003c/i>\u003ci>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Swim, swim\u003c/span>\u003c/i>\u003ci>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u003cbr>\n\u003c/span>\u003c/i>\u003ci>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">I just wanna dive…\u003c/span>\u003c/i>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Steffi Cao: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">BTS was away in the military for four years, and the K-pop group, who was arguably one of the biggest acts in the industry and has been for many years, returned with an album called Arirang, and it was predominantly sung in English, and because of that, as well as the fact that it was a different sound from what they’ve previously put out in the past, it was, I think, personally sonically more mixed. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ci>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">[Audio clip of BTS music] \u003c/span>\u003c/i>\u003ci>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u003cbr>\n\u003c/span>\u003c/i>\u003ci>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Watch this, watch this, \u003c/span>\u003c/i>\u003ci>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u003cbr>\n\u003c/span>\u003c/i>\u003ci>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Beat going hooligan. \u003c/span>\u003c/i>\u003ci>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u003cbr>\n\u003c/span>\u003c/i>\u003ci>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">We pop out, we actin’ a fool again \u003c/span>\u003c/i>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Steffi Cao: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">It became very controversial. It didn’t also help that when they did their first live performance in Seoul after the fact, there were a lot of statistics reported about how many people actually attended. They shut down a very busy intersection in Seoul saying that 300,000 people were expected to show up. Korean officials, some of them said that as low as 42,000 showed up and there were adverse impacts from store owners who expected a lot of influx but didn’t get that. And so now there’s this huge debate happening about this album, what it means for K-pop in the industry and like how things have shifted, et cetera. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Morgan Sung: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Do you think the fandom has aged out of, like, acting like fans? \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Steffi Cao: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u003cem>[Laughter] \u003c/em>I think that the industry has shifted a lot, and what a fan should act like has changed with it. Because I think in the past, the eternal struggle of a BTS ARMY was trying to convince people that K-pop was a serious art form, that it wasn’t just some silly thing that teen girls listened to, that it was corporate slop pop music, that there were a lot of uphill battles, I think, for a K-Pop fan.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>And I think now, over the past four years, you’ve seen a lot more Western embrace of K-pop as a serious art form, as a legitimate cultural export, and not like a niche subculture. So I think that with “K-Pop Demon Hunters”, you have Blackpink headlining Coachella, you had KATSEYE at Lollapalooza, you had all these bigger acts coming out of a Korean system that I think is legitimized in a different way. And so I think that BTS ARMY doesn’t have to convince anyone anymore that BTS is legit. It has shifted this fan identity of like, okay, well, now what? And now what happens?\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Morgan Sung: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Right, you mentioned that like the entire album is sang in English or like all the lyrics are mostly in English, which is interesting because Arirang is a really culturally important folk song in Korea with a lot of history behind it. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ci>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">[Clip of Arirang sung in Korean from Youtube user @Miss_Taex] \u003c/span>\u003c/i>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Morgan Sung: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">I think people expected a little bit more of that cultural representation with this album. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Steffi Cao: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Yeah, I think BTS has also throughout their career really emphasized their Korean-ness, especially because they tend to sample a lot of traditional Korean music, a lot of Korean culture comes into play into their performances. And so I think that it was disappointing for a lot fans to open up this album and hear Teddy Swims in the song. Right? They end on a country song, which is like, possibly the most American form of music that we associate in mainstream culture. We don’t associate country music with Korea. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Morgan Sung: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Yeah, right. And it’s a hard thing to follow “K-Pop Demon Hunters.” Just like the way that that movie was such a cultural moment and how it introduced so many people to Korean folklore and Korean culture and Korean language. That was a movie that was in English, but a lot of the songs were in Korean. And a lot people who have never spoken Korean learned those songs. And so it’s interesting that BTS wouldn’t see that and like kind of seize the moment. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Steffi Cao: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Yes, 100%. I think that it’s frustrating as a fan to feel like the whole reason that you fell so deeply in love with this group has suddenly shifted under your feet and that the intention of the group’s project didn’t align with where you thought they were going to go. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Morgan Sung: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Yeah. Okay, well, BTS’s new album, do we save or do we scroll? \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Steffi Cao: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">I think. I’m going to personally scroll on it, but I think that there’s a lot to talk about in terms of like Asian artistry. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Morgan Sung: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">There’s a lot to keep an eye on, but personally, don’t come for me, ARMY. I didn’t like the album. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Steffi Cao: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Me either. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Morgan Sung: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">So I’m gonna scroll on it. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Steffi Cao: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Oh! \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Morgan Sung: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">I was just bored. I was bored. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Steffi Cao: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">I’m in ARMY. I’m in ARMY-da. And I got the tickets. Any ARMY that wants to come for me and I will see you at MetLife. I’ve got the tickets. And what now? \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Morgan Sung: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">But you can be disappointed. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Steffi Cao: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">And I’m disappointed in the album. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Morgan Sung: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">You’re allowed to be disappointed. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Steffi Cao: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">I’m disappointed. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Morgan Sung: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">And you’re allowed to scroll. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Steffi Cao: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">And I am allowed to scroll on it. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Morgan Sung: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Okay, last story for today. The Meta lawsuits. Okay, so Meta faced two separate lawsuits: one in California over social media addiction and one in New Mexico for child safety. The one in California took place in LA and it centered around this 20 year-old woman who said that she became addicted to YouTube and Instagram as a child. And that that greatly affected her mental health.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>So Snapchat and TikTok were also both defendants, but they settled before it went to court. And a jury in LA found Google and Meta both negligent because the design of their apps encourages infinite scrolling. And the companies didn’t warn users about the dangers of that. So the plaintiff’s lawyer said that both Meta and Google intentionally target kids and prioritize profit over safety. \u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u003cbr>\n\u003c/span>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u003cbr>\nThe jury concluded that Meta is liable for $4.2 million in damages, and Google is liable for $1.8 million. And then for the case in New Mexico, the state sued Meta over child safety issues. Former employees testified that underage users were shown sexualized content on Instagram and were exposed to predators. And during the court proceedings, they said that Meta’s decision to encrypt Facebook Messenger blocked access to evidence of predators grooming minors. And basically, this is the first time that New Mexico, as a state, was able to successfully sue Meta. So now Meta was ordered to pay $375 million.\u003cbr>\n\u003c/span>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u003cbr>\n\u003c/span>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">So these lawsuits are being celebrated as huge wins for child safety and kind of taking down these evil tech companies. But I’m kind of skeptical of big companies like Meta and Google actually changing their practices. And whenever I hear like child safety social media lawsuit or like child safety and social media in the same sentence, I’m like, everyone wants kids to be safe. Everyone wants to protect the kids. No one wants to expose kids to predators or inappropriate content. But alarm bells are going off in my head where I’m, like, will they be using this to justify more surveillance and more censorship and more practices like age verification, which we’ve covered a lot on this show. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Steffi Cao: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">I mean, it makes sense that there’s a lot of cynicism around these child safety lawsuits because what we’ve seen over our careers is that every time there has been one of these landmark lawsuits, it’s like, what is it actually put into practice? People have been concerned about this topic for many, many years, but it feels like the people who are in Congress still miss the mark on the concept of social media as itself. We’ve seen endless clips of Congress people essentially asking Mark Zuckerberg for tech help during Senate hearings. Yeah. So it makes sense that this verdict, even though it’s being lauded as a huge case, I’m not convinced on it either. We’ve seen Meta pay up a lot in the past, and it hasn’t seemed to really shift the needle at all. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Morgan Sung: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">And it’s like, if anything, the practices don’t change. Kids aren’t necessarily safer. And everyone else is a little bit more surveilled and censored, like, with the current wave of age verification requirements, like, sweeping any internet platform whatsoever, where you have to put in your ID to continue using Spotify in some countries and I really distrust that. And, I do kind of worry that like any kind of trying to like ensure child safety on social media will just be used to justify more age verification laws. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Steffi Cao: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Yeah, 100%. I think that the solution being trusting big tech to manage more of our data and requests that we give up more of privacy is like, it makes a lot of sense as people who’ve grown up online and we’ve seen this play before. It does, I think, breed more of a culture of surveillance.\u003cbr>\n\u003c/span>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u003cbr>\n\u003c/span>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">I think also the problem with this lawsuit is that like, it’s not a silver bullet. Like this is a multi-pronged problem where it’s like a part of it is having adults be smarter about their tech use and teaching their kids to critically analyze the content they’re consuming day in and day out. It’s a lot on the education system.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>It’s on providing structural support for young kids to have more time offline to build all these social skills that when you are isolated and just on your feed even though it can be very fun and exciting to be on Tumblr as a 16-year-old, freewheeling it online, you still need an infrastructure behind you to teach you all these skills that you don’t really get when you are online.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>So it’s like a multi-pronged problem. It really is on every adult, regardless of where you stand, if you have kids or not, to try and train yourself to be better about your own skillset, because they’re kids, they’re just imitating whatever resource is there.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Morgan Sung: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Right, and it’s like, Taylor Lorenz on her Free Speech Friday series pointed out that a lot of kids do still, you still need to let them have agency online in some capacity and just like, you know, a lot kids do rely on these online resources to access information about sex ed or find queer community when they don’t have that in real life and to potentially silo them further and take that away could actually endanger kids. Okay, the child safety lawsuits with Meta and Google, do we save or do we scroll? \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Steffi Cao: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">I feel like we’re going to have to save it because this is going to continue. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Morgan Sung: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Yeah, It’s an evergreen save. This is just collecting more and more tabs every day. Thank you so much for joining us, Steffi. Where can people follow your work? \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Steffi Cao: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Thank you so much for having me, Morgan. You can check me out on Instagram at Steffi Cao, S-T-E-F-F-I-C-A-O, and my sub-stack, It’s Steffi. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Morgan Sung: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Perfect, thanks so much. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Morgan Sung: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Close All Tabs is a production of KQED Studios, and it’s reported and hosted by me, Morgan Sung. This episode was produced by Chris Egusa, who also composed our theme song and credits music. It was edited by Chris Hambrick. Our team includes producer, Maya Cueva. Additional music by APM. Brendan Willard is our audio engineer. Audience engagement support from Maha Sanad. Jen Chien is our director of podcasts. Ethan Toven Lindsey is our editor in chief. Some members of the KQED podcast team are represented by the Screen Actors Guild, American Federation of Television and Radio Artists, San Francisco, Northern California Local. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Do you like these deep dives? Are you closing your tabs? Then don’t forget to rate and review us on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to the show. Maybe drop a comment too. Thanks for listening. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ci>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\"> \u003c/span>\u003c/i>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003c/div>"
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"slug": "what-is-the-point-of-californias-privacy-laws-if-big-tech-ignores-them",
"title": "What Is the Point of California’s Privacy Laws if Big Tech Ignores Them?",
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"headTitle": "What Is the Point of California’s Privacy Laws if Big Tech Ignores Them? | KQED",
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"content": "\u003cp>An independent review of \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/category/technology\">Microsoft, Meta and Google\u003c/a> web traffic in \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/tag/california\">California\u003c/a> in March found the tech companies may have violated state regulations around internet privacy.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The \u003ca href=\"https://globalprivacyaudit.org/2026/california\">audit\u003c/a>, by \u003ca href=\"https://webxray.ai/\">webXray\u003c/a>, also said that nearly 200 online advertising services ignored “legally defined, globally standard, opt-out signals” around data sharing, along with more than half of nearly 7,000 websites in California, despite user requests to opt-out of cookie tracking, the most visible opt-out mechanism the laws require.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>This is despite the \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11792899/the-california-consumer-privacy-act-mandates-what-again-exactly\">California Consumer Privacy Act\u003c/a>, as expanded by the\u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11801063/get-ready-for-another-consumer-privacy-initiative-in-california#:~:text=Listen,to%20the%20Attorney%20General's%20Office.\"> California Privacy Rights Act\u003c/a> and\u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11844163/proposition-24-californians-say-yes-to-expanding-on-nations-toughest-data-privacy-law\"> other state privacy legislation\u003c/a>, enforced by both the state attorney general’s office and the California Privacy Protection Agency.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Our findings reveal major technology companies simply ignore globally defined opt-out signals, raising the spectre of industrial-scale non-compliance with California requirements,” the \u003ca href=\"https://globalprivacyaudit.org/2026/california\">report’s\u003c/a> website states.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Businesses that sell or share your personal information are legally required to honor the \u003ca href=\"https://oag.ca.gov/privacy/ccpa/gpc\">Global Privacy Control\u003c/a>, a “stop selling or sharing my data” switch available on web browsers, or as a browser extension.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The company that conducted the audit, webXray, was founded by Timothy Libert, a privacy expert who led cookie policy and compliance at \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/tag/google\">Google\u003c/a> offices in Sunnyvale from 2021 to 2023. Libert spent 15 years in academia studying the topic and worked as a consultant for national and state regulators before his time at Google.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11773481\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 1920px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-11773481\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2019/09/RS38974_GettyImages1091956764-qut.jpg\" alt=\"computer screen stock image\" width=\"1920\" height=\"1280\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2019/09/RS38974_GettyImages1091956764-qut.jpg 1920w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2019/09/RS38974_GettyImages1091956764-qut-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2019/09/RS38974_GettyImages1091956764-qut-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2019/09/RS38974_GettyImages1091956764-qut-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2019/09/RS38974_GettyImages1091956764-qut-1200x800.jpg 1200w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">With no federal law governing digital privacy, California’s Consumer Privacy Act was the first to offer state residents some control over the use of their data by companies. \u003ccite>(Jack Guez/AFP/Getty Images)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>webXray, his current venture, functions as a white-hat hacker outfit for hire, advising Silicon Valley companies on legal compliance and scouring the internet for privacy violations for law firms pursuing class action suits.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Ask the average Californian if they feel they have more privacy now than before the CCPA was passed. I think the answer’s going to be no. And as somebody who has the ability, knowledge and background to measure it, I’m going to say scientifically, the answer is also no,” Libert told KQED.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>According to the webXray audit, Google failed to let users opt out 86% of the time, Meta 69% and Microsoft 50%.[aside postID=news_12079472 hero='https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/04/GettyImages-1501991882.jpg']“Google’s failure to honor the [Global Privacy Control] opt-out signal is easy to find in network traffic,” the report noted, concluding, “This non-compliance is easy to spot, hiding in plain sight.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Consumer privacy is a top priority for us, and we remain committed to transparency and compliance with applicable privacy requirements,” a Microsoft spokesperson said by email. “As outlined in our Privacy Statement, when we receive a GPC signal, we opt the user out of sharing personal data with third parties for personalized advertising, and our advertising systems are designed to reflect that choice.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Certain Microsoft cookies are necessary for operational purposes, and may therefore be placed and read even when a GPC signal is detected.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“This report is based on a fundamental misunderstanding of how our products work. We honor opt-outs provided by advertisers and publishers as required by law,” a Google spokesperson wrote KQED.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In an emailed statement, a Meta spokesperson called webXray’s audit “a blatant marketing ploy that misrepresents how the Global Privacy Control setting works,” and the company’s role.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The control setting restricts how data is shared, not collected, and Meta already requires that when using the Meta pixel, advertisers only share with us information they have obtained the right to share,” the statement continued. “Meta further encourages websites to use our Limited Data Use feature so they can clearly indicate to us when they have permission to share certain information – and when we get information identified that way, we restrict its use.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Libert disagreed, arguing as he did in his audit that “just adding a couple lines of code” would bring the companies into compliance with California law. “Their claims that I ‘misunderstood’ anything are farcical. I wrote the cookie policy,” he said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12031243\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 1568px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12031243\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/03/041922-ATTORNEY-GENERAL-OFFICE-MHN-03-CM-copy.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"1568\" height=\"1045\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/03/041922-ATTORNEY-GENERAL-OFFICE-MHN-03-CM-copy.jpg 1568w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/03/041922-ATTORNEY-GENERAL-OFFICE-MHN-03-CM-copy-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/03/041922-ATTORNEY-GENERAL-OFFICE-MHN-03-CM-copy-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/03/041922-ATTORNEY-GENERAL-OFFICE-MHN-03-CM-copy-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/03/041922-ATTORNEY-GENERAL-OFFICE-MHN-03-CM-copy-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1568px) 100vw, 1568px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">The seal above the offices of the California Department of Justice in Sacramento on April 19, 2022. \u003ccite>(Martin do Nascimento/CalMatters)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Under the CCPA, each violation carries a $2,500 fine, or $7,500 if intentional. The companies, he said, are wealthy enough to pay fines and shrug them off without changing how they do business. “If you make them change the code, the whole system falls apart, and that’s what they’re terrified of,” he said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>A spokesperson for the California Department of Justice declined to comment on the specific issues raised by the report, but wrote in an email, “We always welcome reporting about potential CCPA violations — anyone interested in reporting a potential violation to our office can go to \u003ca href=\"http://oag.ca.gov/report\">oag.ca.gov/report\u003c/a>.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The\u003ca href=\"https://cppa.ca.gov\"> California Privacy Protection Agency\u003c/a> declined to comment.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The state attorney general’s office has settled with a wide variety of companies in\u003ca href=\"https://oag.ca.gov/news/press-releases/attorney-general-bonta-la-city-attorney-feldstein-soto-announce-500000\"> gaming\u003c/a>,\u003ca href=\"https://oag.ca.gov/news/press-releases/attorney-general-bonta-announces-largest-ccpa-settlement-date-secures-155\"> health\u003c/a> and\u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12030969/california-privacy-agency-fines-american-honda-over-consumer-data-violations\"> automotive\u003c/a> industries; conducted sweeps of\u003ca href=\"https://oag.ca.gov/news/press-releases/attorney-general-bonta-announces-investigative-sweep-location-data-industry\"> location data\u003c/a>,\u003ca href=\"https://oag.ca.gov/news/press-releases/attorney-general-bonta-announces-investigative-sweep-focuses-streaming-services\"> streaming apps and devices\u003c/a> and\u003ca href=\"https://oag.ca.gov/news/press-releases/data-privacy-day-attorney-general-bonta-focuses-surveillance-pricing-compliance\"> surveillance pricing\u003c/a>; and formed information-sharing\u003ca href=\"https://oag.ca.gov/news/press-releases/state-privacy-regulators-assemble-attorney-general-bonta-announces-bipartisan\"> partnerships\u003c/a> with other state regulators.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The largest privacy settlement specifically under the CCPA reached by Attorney General Rob Bonta’s office was a $2.75 million settlement with\u003ca href=\"https://oag.ca.gov/news/press-releases/california-wont-let-it-go-attorney-general-bonta-announces-275-million\"> the Walt Disney Company\u003c/a>, announced Feb.11, 2026.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12036125\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12036125\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/04/MetaGetty2.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/04/MetaGetty2.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/04/MetaGetty2-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/04/MetaGetty2-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/04/MetaGetty2-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/04/MetaGetty2-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/04/MetaGetty2-1920x1280.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">The Meta, Facebook, Instagram, WhatsApp, Messenger and Threads logos are screened on a mobile phone on Jan. 25, 2025. \u003ccite>(Beata Zawrzel/NurPhoto via Getty Images)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>According to \u003ca href=\"https://www.404media.co/google-microsoft-meta-all-tracking-you-even-when-you-opt-out-according-to-an-independent-audit/?ref=daily-stories-newsletter%3Chttps://www.404media.co/google-microsoft-meta-all-tracking-you-even-when-you-opt-out-according-to-an-independent-audit/?ref=daily-stories-newsletter%3E%3Chttps://www.404media.co/google-microsoft-meta-all-tracking-you-even-when-you-opt-out-according-to-an-independent-audit/?ref=daily-stories-newsletter%3Chttps://www.404media.co/google-microsoft-meta-all-tracking-you-even-when-you-opt-out-according-to-an-independent-audit/?ref=daily-stories-newsletter%3E%3E%3Chttps://www.404media.co/google-microsoft-meta-all-tracking-you-even-when-you-opt-out-according-to-an-independent-audit/?ref=daily-stories-newsletter%3Chttps://www.404media.co/google-microsoft-meta-all-tracking-you-even-when-you-opt-out-according-to-an-independent-audit/?ref=daily-stories-newsletter%3E%3Chttps://www.404media.co/google-microsoft-meta-all-tracking-you-even-when-you-opt-out-according-to-an-independent-audit/?ref=daily-stories-newsletter%3Chttps://www.404media.co/google-microsoft-meta-all-tracking-you-even-when-you-opt-out-according-to-an-independent-audit/?ref=daily-stories-newsletter%3E%3E%3E%3Chttps://www.404media.co/google-microsoft-meta-all-tracking-you-even-when-you-opt-out-according-to-an-independent-audit/?ref=daily-stories-newsletter%3Chttps://www.404media.co/google-microsoft-meta-all-tracking-you-even-when-you-opt-out-according-to-an-independent-audit/?ref=daily-stories-newsletter%3E%3Chttps://www.404media.co/google-microsoft-meta-all-tracking-you-even-when-you-opt-out-according-to-an-independent-audit/?ref=daily-stories-newsletter%3Chttps://www.404media.co/google-microsoft-meta-all-tracking-you-even-when-you-opt-out-according-to-an-independent-audit/?ref=daily-stories-newsletter%3E%3E%3Chttps://www.404media.co/google-microsoft-meta-all-tracking-you-even-when-you-opt-out-according-to-an-independent-audit/?ref=daily-stories-newsletter%3Chttps://www.404media.co/google-microsoft-meta-all-tracking-you-even-when-you-opt-out-according-to-an-independent-audit/?ref=daily-stories-newsletter%3E%3Chttps://www.404media.co/google-microsoft-meta-all-tracking-you-even-when-you-opt-out-according-to-an-independent-audit/?ref=daily-stories-newsletter%3Chttps://www.404media.co/google-microsoft-meta-all-tracking-you-even-when-you-opt-out-according-to-an-independent-audit/?ref=daily-stories-newsletter%3E%3E%3E%3E%3Chttps://www.404media.co/google-microsoft-meta-all-tracking-you-even-when-you-opt-out-according-to-an-independent-audit/?ref=daily-stories-newsletter%3Chttps://www.404media.co/google-microsoft-meta-all-tracking-you-even-when-you-opt-out-according-to-an-independent-audit/?ref=daily-stories-newsletter%3E%3Chttps://www.404media.co/google-microsoft-meta-all-tracking-you-even-when-you-opt-out-according-to-an-independent-audit/?ref=daily-stories-newsletter%3Chttps://www.404media.co/google-microsoft-meta-all-tracking-you-even-when-you-opt-out-according-to-an-independent-audit/?ref=daily-stories-newsletter%3E%3E%3Chttps://www.404media.co/google-microsoft-meta-all-tracking-you-even-when-you-opt-out-according-to-an-independent-audit/?ref=daily-stories-newsletter%3Chttps://www.404media.co/google-microsoft-meta-all-tracking-you-even-when-you-opt-out-according-to-an-independent-audit/?ref=daily-stories-newsletter%3E%3Chttps://www.404media.co/google-microsoft-meta-all-tracking-you-even-when-you-opt-out-according-to-an-independent-audit/?ref=daily-stories-newsletter%3Chttps://www.404media.co/google-microsoft-meta-all-tracking-you-even-when-you-opt-out-according-to-an-independent-audit/?ref=daily-stories-newsletter%3E%3E%3E%3Chttps://www.404media.co/google-microsoft-meta-all-tracking-you-even-when-you-opt-out-according-to-an-independent-audit/?ref=daily-stories-newsletter%3Chttps://www.404media.co/google-microsoft-meta-all-tracking-you-even-when-you-opt-out-according-to-an-independent-audit/?ref=daily-stories-newsletter%3E%3Chttps://www.404media.co/google-microsoft-meta-all-tracking-you-even-when-you-opt-out-according-to-an-\">404 Media,\u003c/a> Microsoft, Meta, and Google have collectively\u003ca href=\"https://www.ftc.gov/news-events/news/press-releases/2019/07/ftc-imposes-5-billion-penalty-sweeping-new-privacy-restrictions-facebook\"> paid billions\u003c/a> in\u003ca href=\"https://www.reuters.com/sustainability/boards-policy-regulation/google-must-pay-425-million-class-action-over-privacy-jury-rules-2025-09-03/?ref=404media.co\"> fees for\u003c/a> previous\u003ca href=\"https://home.treasury.gov/news/press-releases/jy1394?ref=404media.co\"> privacy violations\u003c/a> similar to the ones found during the audit.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I don’t really see that shifting the needle,” Libert said, adding the agencies’ actions provide only a “veneer of enforcement.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>State legislators, meanwhile, said they are working to address the apparent lack of accountability by big tech companies.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Companies that refuse to comply with the law should face real consequences,” state Sen. Josh Becker, D-Menlo Park, said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Becker is the author of multiple bills giving Californians more power over their data, including the still-pending Expanding Privacy Rights Act, \u003ca href=\"https://privacy.ca.gov/2026/01/calprivacy-sponsors-bill-that-expands-deletion-rights-and-accessibility-requirements/'\">SB 923\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>One of those laws, \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11947039/delete-act-seeks-to-give-californians-more-power-to-block-data-tracking\">the Delete Act\u003c/a>, allowed residents to \u003ca href=\"https://privacy.ca.gov/drop/about-drop-and-the-delete-act/\">request\u003c/a> that all registered companies that buy and sell your data delete your personal information. Data brokers must begin honoring these requests by Aug. 1, 2026.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12064635\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12064635\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/11/251119-MICROSOFT-GAZA-PROTEST-MD-01-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/11/251119-MICROSOFT-GAZA-PROTEST-MD-01-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/11/251119-MICROSOFT-GAZA-PROTEST-MD-01-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/11/251119-MICROSOFT-GAZA-PROTEST-MD-01-KQED-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Attendees of the Microsoft Ignite conference walk through downtown San Francisco on Nov. 18, 2025. \u003ccite>(Martin do Nascimento/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>“I don’t think we’re nibbling around the edges” of the\u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12028137/california-lawmakers-take-on-predatory-surveillance-pricing\"> ad-surveillance economy\u003c/a> Becker told KQED. “The Delete Act fundamentally gets to the heart of it.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>However, he added, he acknowledged the challenges of fighting for this cause at the state level, versus the federal or even international.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Ultimately, all this is about reclaiming control over our data. When someone searches for medical care, manages their finances, looks for a job — that information is deeply personal, it should not be tracked, sold or weaponized without their consent,” Becker said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad floatright]\u003c/p>\n",
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"excerpt": "An independent privacy audit of Microsoft, Meta and Google web traffic in California found the companies appear to be violating state regulations, potentially exposing themselves to significant fines.",
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"title": "What Is the Point of California’s Privacy Laws if Big Tech Ignores Them? | KQED",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>An independent review of \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/category/technology\">Microsoft, Meta and Google\u003c/a> web traffic in \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/tag/california\">California\u003c/a> in March found the tech companies may have violated state regulations around internet privacy.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The \u003ca href=\"https://globalprivacyaudit.org/2026/california\">audit\u003c/a>, by \u003ca href=\"https://webxray.ai/\">webXray\u003c/a>, also said that nearly 200 online advertising services ignored “legally defined, globally standard, opt-out signals” around data sharing, along with more than half of nearly 7,000 websites in California, despite user requests to opt-out of cookie tracking, the most visible opt-out mechanism the laws require.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>This is despite the \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11792899/the-california-consumer-privacy-act-mandates-what-again-exactly\">California Consumer Privacy Act\u003c/a>, as expanded by the\u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11801063/get-ready-for-another-consumer-privacy-initiative-in-california#:~:text=Listen,to%20the%20Attorney%20General's%20Office.\"> California Privacy Rights Act\u003c/a> and\u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11844163/proposition-24-californians-say-yes-to-expanding-on-nations-toughest-data-privacy-law\"> other state privacy legislation\u003c/a>, enforced by both the state attorney general’s office and the California Privacy Protection Agency.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Our findings reveal major technology companies simply ignore globally defined opt-out signals, raising the spectre of industrial-scale non-compliance with California requirements,” the \u003ca href=\"https://globalprivacyaudit.org/2026/california\">report’s\u003c/a> website states.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Businesses that sell or share your personal information are legally required to honor the \u003ca href=\"https://oag.ca.gov/privacy/ccpa/gpc\">Global Privacy Control\u003c/a>, a “stop selling or sharing my data” switch available on web browsers, or as a browser extension.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The company that conducted the audit, webXray, was founded by Timothy Libert, a privacy expert who led cookie policy and compliance at \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/tag/google\">Google\u003c/a> offices in Sunnyvale from 2021 to 2023. Libert spent 15 years in academia studying the topic and worked as a consultant for national and state regulators before his time at Google.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11773481\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 1920px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-11773481\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2019/09/RS38974_GettyImages1091956764-qut.jpg\" alt=\"computer screen stock image\" width=\"1920\" height=\"1280\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2019/09/RS38974_GettyImages1091956764-qut.jpg 1920w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2019/09/RS38974_GettyImages1091956764-qut-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2019/09/RS38974_GettyImages1091956764-qut-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2019/09/RS38974_GettyImages1091956764-qut-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2019/09/RS38974_GettyImages1091956764-qut-1200x800.jpg 1200w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">With no federal law governing digital privacy, California’s Consumer Privacy Act was the first to offer state residents some control over the use of their data by companies. \u003ccite>(Jack Guez/AFP/Getty Images)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>webXray, his current venture, functions as a white-hat hacker outfit for hire, advising Silicon Valley companies on legal compliance and scouring the internet for privacy violations for law firms pursuing class action suits.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Ask the average Californian if they feel they have more privacy now than before the CCPA was passed. I think the answer’s going to be no. And as somebody who has the ability, knowledge and background to measure it, I’m going to say scientifically, the answer is also no,” Libert told KQED.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>According to the webXray audit, Google failed to let users opt out 86% of the time, Meta 69% and Microsoft 50%.\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>“Google’s failure to honor the [Global Privacy Control] opt-out signal is easy to find in network traffic,” the report noted, concluding, “This non-compliance is easy to spot, hiding in plain sight.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Consumer privacy is a top priority for us, and we remain committed to transparency and compliance with applicable privacy requirements,” a Microsoft spokesperson said by email. “As outlined in our Privacy Statement, when we receive a GPC signal, we opt the user out of sharing personal data with third parties for personalized advertising, and our advertising systems are designed to reflect that choice.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Certain Microsoft cookies are necessary for operational purposes, and may therefore be placed and read even when a GPC signal is detected.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“This report is based on a fundamental misunderstanding of how our products work. We honor opt-outs provided by advertisers and publishers as required by law,” a Google spokesperson wrote KQED.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In an emailed statement, a Meta spokesperson called webXray’s audit “a blatant marketing ploy that misrepresents how the Global Privacy Control setting works,” and the company’s role.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The control setting restricts how data is shared, not collected, and Meta already requires that when using the Meta pixel, advertisers only share with us information they have obtained the right to share,” the statement continued. “Meta further encourages websites to use our Limited Data Use feature so they can clearly indicate to us when they have permission to share certain information – and when we get information identified that way, we restrict its use.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Libert disagreed, arguing as he did in his audit that “just adding a couple lines of code” would bring the companies into compliance with California law. “Their claims that I ‘misunderstood’ anything are farcical. I wrote the cookie policy,” he said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12031243\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 1568px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12031243\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/03/041922-ATTORNEY-GENERAL-OFFICE-MHN-03-CM-copy.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"1568\" height=\"1045\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/03/041922-ATTORNEY-GENERAL-OFFICE-MHN-03-CM-copy.jpg 1568w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/03/041922-ATTORNEY-GENERAL-OFFICE-MHN-03-CM-copy-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/03/041922-ATTORNEY-GENERAL-OFFICE-MHN-03-CM-copy-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/03/041922-ATTORNEY-GENERAL-OFFICE-MHN-03-CM-copy-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/03/041922-ATTORNEY-GENERAL-OFFICE-MHN-03-CM-copy-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1568px) 100vw, 1568px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">The seal above the offices of the California Department of Justice in Sacramento on April 19, 2022. \u003ccite>(Martin do Nascimento/CalMatters)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Under the CCPA, each violation carries a $2,500 fine, or $7,500 if intentional. The companies, he said, are wealthy enough to pay fines and shrug them off without changing how they do business. “If you make them change the code, the whole system falls apart, and that’s what they’re terrified of,” he said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>A spokesperson for the California Department of Justice declined to comment on the specific issues raised by the report, but wrote in an email, “We always welcome reporting about potential CCPA violations — anyone interested in reporting a potential violation to our office can go to \u003ca href=\"http://oag.ca.gov/report\">oag.ca.gov/report\u003c/a>.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The\u003ca href=\"https://cppa.ca.gov\"> California Privacy Protection Agency\u003c/a> declined to comment.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The state attorney general’s office has settled with a wide variety of companies in\u003ca href=\"https://oag.ca.gov/news/press-releases/attorney-general-bonta-la-city-attorney-feldstein-soto-announce-500000\"> gaming\u003c/a>,\u003ca href=\"https://oag.ca.gov/news/press-releases/attorney-general-bonta-announces-largest-ccpa-settlement-date-secures-155\"> health\u003c/a> and\u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12030969/california-privacy-agency-fines-american-honda-over-consumer-data-violations\"> automotive\u003c/a> industries; conducted sweeps of\u003ca href=\"https://oag.ca.gov/news/press-releases/attorney-general-bonta-announces-investigative-sweep-location-data-industry\"> location data\u003c/a>,\u003ca href=\"https://oag.ca.gov/news/press-releases/attorney-general-bonta-announces-investigative-sweep-focuses-streaming-services\"> streaming apps and devices\u003c/a> and\u003ca href=\"https://oag.ca.gov/news/press-releases/data-privacy-day-attorney-general-bonta-focuses-surveillance-pricing-compliance\"> surveillance pricing\u003c/a>; and formed information-sharing\u003ca href=\"https://oag.ca.gov/news/press-releases/state-privacy-regulators-assemble-attorney-general-bonta-announces-bipartisan\"> partnerships\u003c/a> with other state regulators.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The largest privacy settlement specifically under the CCPA reached by Attorney General Rob Bonta’s office was a $2.75 million settlement with\u003ca href=\"https://oag.ca.gov/news/press-releases/california-wont-let-it-go-attorney-general-bonta-announces-275-million\"> the Walt Disney Company\u003c/a>, announced Feb.11, 2026.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12036125\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12036125\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/04/MetaGetty2.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/04/MetaGetty2.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/04/MetaGetty2-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/04/MetaGetty2-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/04/MetaGetty2-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/04/MetaGetty2-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/04/MetaGetty2-1920x1280.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">The Meta, Facebook, Instagram, WhatsApp, Messenger and Threads logos are screened on a mobile phone on Jan. 25, 2025. \u003ccite>(Beata Zawrzel/NurPhoto via Getty Images)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>According to \u003ca href=\"https://www.404media.co/google-microsoft-meta-all-tracking-you-even-when-you-opt-out-according-to-an-independent-audit/?ref=daily-stories-newsletter%3Chttps://www.404media.co/google-microsoft-meta-all-tracking-you-even-when-you-opt-out-according-to-an-independent-audit/?ref=daily-stories-newsletter%3E%3Chttps://www.404media.co/google-microsoft-meta-all-tracking-you-even-when-you-opt-out-according-to-an-independent-audit/?ref=daily-stories-newsletter%3Chttps://www.404media.co/google-microsoft-meta-all-tracking-you-even-when-you-opt-out-according-to-an-independent-audit/?ref=daily-stories-newsletter%3E%3E%3Chttps://www.404media.co/google-microsoft-meta-all-tracking-you-even-when-you-opt-out-according-to-an-independent-audit/?ref=daily-stories-newsletter%3Chttps://www.404media.co/google-microsoft-meta-all-tracking-you-even-when-you-opt-out-according-to-an-independent-audit/?ref=daily-stories-newsletter%3E%3Chttps://www.404media.co/google-microsoft-meta-all-tracking-you-even-when-you-opt-out-according-to-an-independent-audit/?ref=daily-stories-newsletter%3Chttps://www.404media.co/google-microsoft-meta-all-tracking-you-even-when-you-opt-out-according-to-an-independent-audit/?ref=daily-stories-newsletter%3E%3E%3E%3Chttps://www.404media.co/google-microsoft-meta-all-tracking-you-even-when-you-opt-out-according-to-an-independent-audit/?ref=daily-stories-newsletter%3Chttps://www.404media.co/google-microsoft-meta-all-tracking-you-even-when-you-opt-out-according-to-an-independent-audit/?ref=daily-stories-newsletter%3E%3Chttps://www.404media.co/google-microsoft-meta-all-tracking-you-even-when-you-opt-out-according-to-an-independent-audit/?ref=daily-stories-newsletter%3Chttps://www.404media.co/google-microsoft-meta-all-tracking-you-even-when-you-opt-out-according-to-an-independent-audit/?ref=daily-stories-newsletter%3E%3E%3Chttps://www.404media.co/google-microsoft-meta-all-tracking-you-even-when-you-opt-out-according-to-an-independent-audit/?ref=daily-stories-newsletter%3Chttps://www.404media.co/google-microsoft-meta-all-tracking-you-even-when-you-opt-out-according-to-an-independent-audit/?ref=daily-stories-newsletter%3E%3Chttps://www.404media.co/google-microsoft-meta-all-tracking-you-even-when-you-opt-out-according-to-an-independent-audit/?ref=daily-stories-newsletter%3Chttps://www.404media.co/google-microsoft-meta-all-tracking-you-even-when-you-opt-out-according-to-an-independent-audit/?ref=daily-stories-newsletter%3E%3E%3E%3E%3Chttps://www.404media.co/google-microsoft-meta-all-tracking-you-even-when-you-opt-out-according-to-an-independent-audit/?ref=daily-stories-newsletter%3Chttps://www.404media.co/google-microsoft-meta-all-tracking-you-even-when-you-opt-out-according-to-an-independent-audit/?ref=daily-stories-newsletter%3E%3Chttps://www.404media.co/google-microsoft-meta-all-tracking-you-even-when-you-opt-out-according-to-an-independent-audit/?ref=daily-stories-newsletter%3Chttps://www.404media.co/google-microsoft-meta-all-tracking-you-even-when-you-opt-out-according-to-an-independent-audit/?ref=daily-stories-newsletter%3E%3E%3Chttps://www.404media.co/google-microsoft-meta-all-tracking-you-even-when-you-opt-out-according-to-an-independent-audit/?ref=daily-stories-newsletter%3Chttps://www.404media.co/google-microsoft-meta-all-tracking-you-even-when-you-opt-out-according-to-an-independent-audit/?ref=daily-stories-newsletter%3E%3Chttps://www.404media.co/google-microsoft-meta-all-tracking-you-even-when-you-opt-out-according-to-an-independent-audit/?ref=daily-stories-newsletter%3Chttps://www.404media.co/google-microsoft-meta-all-tracking-you-even-when-you-opt-out-according-to-an-independent-audit/?ref=daily-stories-newsletter%3E%3E%3E%3Chttps://www.404media.co/google-microsoft-meta-all-tracking-you-even-when-you-opt-out-according-to-an-independent-audit/?ref=daily-stories-newsletter%3Chttps://www.404media.co/google-microsoft-meta-all-tracking-you-even-when-you-opt-out-according-to-an-independent-audit/?ref=daily-stories-newsletter%3E%3Chttps://www.404media.co/google-microsoft-meta-all-tracking-you-even-when-you-opt-out-according-to-an-\">404 Media,\u003c/a> Microsoft, Meta, and Google have collectively\u003ca href=\"https://www.ftc.gov/news-events/news/press-releases/2019/07/ftc-imposes-5-billion-penalty-sweeping-new-privacy-restrictions-facebook\"> paid billions\u003c/a> in\u003ca href=\"https://www.reuters.com/sustainability/boards-policy-regulation/google-must-pay-425-million-class-action-over-privacy-jury-rules-2025-09-03/?ref=404media.co\"> fees for\u003c/a> previous\u003ca href=\"https://home.treasury.gov/news/press-releases/jy1394?ref=404media.co\"> privacy violations\u003c/a> similar to the ones found during the audit.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I don’t really see that shifting the needle,” Libert said, adding the agencies’ actions provide only a “veneer of enforcement.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>State legislators, meanwhile, said they are working to address the apparent lack of accountability by big tech companies.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Companies that refuse to comply with the law should face real consequences,” state Sen. Josh Becker, D-Menlo Park, said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Becker is the author of multiple bills giving Californians more power over their data, including the still-pending Expanding Privacy Rights Act, \u003ca href=\"https://privacy.ca.gov/2026/01/calprivacy-sponsors-bill-that-expands-deletion-rights-and-accessibility-requirements/'\">SB 923\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>One of those laws, \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11947039/delete-act-seeks-to-give-californians-more-power-to-block-data-tracking\">the Delete Act\u003c/a>, allowed residents to \u003ca href=\"https://privacy.ca.gov/drop/about-drop-and-the-delete-act/\">request\u003c/a> that all registered companies that buy and sell your data delete your personal information. Data brokers must begin honoring these requests by Aug. 1, 2026.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12064635\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12064635\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/11/251119-MICROSOFT-GAZA-PROTEST-MD-01-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/11/251119-MICROSOFT-GAZA-PROTEST-MD-01-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/11/251119-MICROSOFT-GAZA-PROTEST-MD-01-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/11/251119-MICROSOFT-GAZA-PROTEST-MD-01-KQED-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Attendees of the Microsoft Ignite conference walk through downtown San Francisco on Nov. 18, 2025. \u003ccite>(Martin do Nascimento/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>“I don’t think we’re nibbling around the edges” of the\u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12028137/california-lawmakers-take-on-predatory-surveillance-pricing\"> ad-surveillance economy\u003c/a> Becker told KQED. “The Delete Act fundamentally gets to the heart of it.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>However, he added, he acknowledged the challenges of fighting for this cause at the state level, versus the federal or even international.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Ultimately, all this is about reclaiming control over our data. When someone searches for medical care, manages their finances, looks for a job — that information is deeply personal, it should not be tracked, sold or weaponized without their consent,” Becker said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"order": 1
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"code-switch-life-kit": {
"id": "code-switch-life-kit",
"title": "Code Switch / Life Kit",
"info": "\u003cem>Code Switch\u003c/em>, which listeners will hear in the first part of the hour, has fearless and much-needed conversations about race. Hosted by journalists of color, the show tackles the subject of race head-on, exploring how it impacts every part of society — from politics and pop culture to history, sports and more.\u003cbr />\u003cbr />\u003cem>Life Kit\u003c/em>, which will be in the second part of the hour, guides you through spaces and feelings no one prepares you for — from finances to mental health, from workplace microaggressions to imposter syndrome, from relationships to parenting. The show features experts with real world experience and shares their knowledge. Because everyone needs a little help being human.\u003cbr />\u003cbr />\u003ca href=\"https://www.npr.org/podcasts/510312/codeswitch\">\u003cem>Code Switch\u003c/em> offical site and podcast\u003c/a>\u003cbr />\u003ca href=\"https://www.npr.org/lifekit\">\u003cem>Life Kit\u003c/em> offical site and podcast\u003c/a>\u003cbr />",
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"commonwealth-club": {
"id": "commonwealth-club",
"title": "Commonwealth Club of California Podcast",
"info": "The Commonwealth Club of California is the nation's oldest and largest public affairs forum. As a non-partisan forum, The Club brings to the public airwaves diverse viewpoints on important topics. The Club's weekly radio broadcast - the oldest in the U.S., dating back to 1924 - is carried across the nation on public radio stations and is now podcasting. Our website archive features audio of our recent programs, as well as selected speeches from our long and distinguished history. This podcast feed is usually updated twice a week and is always un-edited.",
"airtime": "THU 10pm, FRI 1am",
"imageSrc": "https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/Commonwealth-Club-Podcast-Tile-360x360-1.jpg",
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"meta": {
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"source": "Commonwealth Club of California"
},
"link": "/radio/program/commonwealth-club",
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"google": "https://podcasts.google.com/feed/aHR0cDovL3d3dy5jb21tb253ZWFsdGhjbHViLm9yZy9hdWRpby9wb2RjYXN0L3dlZWtseS54bWw",
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},
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"id": "forum",
"title": "Forum",
"tagline": "The conversation starts here",
"info": "KQED’s live call-in program discussing local, state, national and international issues, as well as in-depth interviews.",
"airtime": "MON-FRI 9am-11am, 10pm-11pm",
"imageSrc": "https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/Forum-Podcast-Tile-703x703-1.jpg",
"imageAlt": "KQED Forum with Mina Kim and Alexis Madrigal",
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"order": 9
},
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"google": "https://podcasts.google.com/feed/aHR0cHM6Ly9mZWVkcy5tZWdhcGhvbmUuZm0vS1FJTkM5NTU3MzgxNjMz",
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"freakonomics-radio": {
"id": "freakonomics-radio",
"title": "Freakonomics Radio",
"info": "Freakonomics Radio is a one-hour award-winning podcast and public-radio project hosted by Stephen Dubner, with co-author Steve Levitt as a regular guest. It is produced in partnership with WNYC.",
"imageSrc": "https://ww2.kqed.org/news/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2018/05/freakonomicsRadio.png",
"officialWebsiteLink": "http://freakonomics.com/",
"airtime": "SUN 1am-2am, SAT 3pm-4pm",
"meta": {
"site": "radio",
"source": "WNYC"
},
"link": "/radio/program/freakonomics-radio",
"subscribe": {
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"apple": "https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/freakonomics-radio/id354668519",
"tuneIn": "https://tunein.com/podcasts/WNYC-Podcasts/Freakonomics-Radio-p272293/",
"rss": "https://feeds.feedburner.com/freakonomicsradio"
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},
"fresh-air": {
"id": "fresh-air",
"title": "Fresh Air",
"info": "Hosted by Terry Gross, \u003cem>Fresh Air from WHYY\u003c/em> is the Peabody Award-winning weekday magazine of contemporary arts and issues. One of public radio's most popular programs, Fresh Air features intimate conversations with today's biggest luminaries.",
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"imageSrc": "https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/Fresh-Air-Podcast-Tile-360x360-1.jpg",
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"meta": {
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"link": "/radio/program/fresh-air",
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"apple": "https://itunes.apple.com/WebObjects/MZStore.woa/wa/viewPodcast?s=143441&mt=2&id=214089682&at=11l79Y&ct=nprdirectory",
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"info": "A live production of NPR and WBUR Boston, in collaboration with stations across the country, Here & Now reflects the fluid world of news as it's happening in the middle of the day, with timely, in-depth news, interviews and conversation. Hosted by Robin Young, Jeremy Hobson and Tonya Mosley.",
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"rss": "https://feeds.npr.org/510051/podcast.xml"
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},
"hidden-brain": {
"id": "hidden-brain",
"title": "Hidden Brain",
"info": "Shankar Vedantam uses science and storytelling to reveal the unconscious patterns that drive human behavior, shape our choices and direct our relationships.",
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"airtime": "SUN 7pm-8pm",
"meta": {
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"source": "NPR"
},
"link": "/radio/program/hidden-brain",
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},
"how-i-built-this": {
"id": "how-i-built-this",
"title": "How I Built This with Guy Raz",
"info": "Guy Raz dives into the stories behind some of the world's best known companies. How I Built This weaves a narrative journey about innovators, entrepreneurs and idealists—and the movements they built.",
"imageSrc": "https://ww2.kqed.org/news/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2018/05/howIBuiltThis.png",
"officialWebsiteLink": "https://www.npr.org/podcasts/510313/how-i-built-this",
"airtime": "SUN 7:30pm-8pm",
"meta": {
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},
"link": "/radio/program/how-i-built-this",
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"npr": "https://rpb3r.app.goo.gl/3zxy",
"apple": "https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/how-i-built-this-with-guy-raz/id1150510297?mt=2",
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"hyphenacion": {
"id": "hyphenacion",
"title": "Hyphenación",
"tagline": "Where conversation and cultura meet",
"info": "What kind of no sabo word is Hyphenación? For us, it’s about living within a hyphenation. Like being a third-gen Mexican-American from the Texas border now living that Bay Area Chicano life. Like Xorje! Each week we bring together a couple of hyphenated Latinos to talk all about personal life choices: family, careers, relationships, belonging … everything is on the table. ",
"imageSrc": "https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/Hyphenacion_FinalAssets_PodcastTile.png",
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"officialWebsiteLink": "/podcasts/hyphenacion",
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"order": 15
},
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"spotify": "https://open.spotify.com/show/2p3Fifq96nw9BPcmFdIq0o?si=39209f7b25774f38",
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},
"jerrybrown": {
"id": "jerrybrown",
"title": "The Political Mind of Jerry Brown",
"tagline": "Lessons from a lifetime in politics",
"info": "The Political Mind of Jerry Brown brings listeners the wisdom of the former Governor, Mayor, and presidential candidate. Scott Shafer interviewed Brown for more than 40 hours, covering the former governor's life and half-century in the political game – and Brown has some lessons he'd like to share. ",
"imageSrc": "https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/The-Political-Mind-of-Jerry-Brown-Podcast-Tile-703x703-1.jpg",
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"officialWebsiteLink": "/podcasts/jerrybrown",
"meta": {
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"order": 18
},
"link": "/podcasts/jerrybrown",
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},
"latino-usa": {
"id": "latino-usa",
"title": "Latino USA",
"airtime": "MON 1am-2am, SUN 6pm-7pm",
"info": "Latino USA, the radio journal of news and culture, is the only national, English-language radio program produced from a Latino perspective.",
"imageSrc": "https://ww2.kqed.org/radio/wp-content/uploads/sites/50/2018/04/latinoUsa.jpg",
"officialWebsiteLink": "http://latinousa.org/",
"meta": {
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},
"link": "/radio/program/latino-usa",
"subscribe": {
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"apple": "https://itunes.apple.com/WebObjects/MZStore.woa/wa/viewPodcast?s=143441&mt=2&id=79681317&at=11l79Y&ct=nprdirectory",
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"rss": "https://feeds.npr.org/510016/podcast.xml"
}
},
"marketplace": {
"id": "marketplace",
"title": "Marketplace",
"info": "Our flagship program, helmed by Kai Ryssdal, examines what the day in money delivered, through stories, conversations, newsworthy numbers and more. Updated Monday through Friday at about 3:30 p.m. PT.",
"airtime": "MON-FRI 4pm-4:30pm, MON-WED 6:30pm-7pm",
"imageSrc": "https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/Marketplace-Podcast-Tile-360x360-1.jpg",
"officialWebsiteLink": "https://www.marketplace.org/",
"meta": {
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"source": "American Public Media"
},
"link": "/radio/program/marketplace",
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"rss": "https://feeds.publicradio.org/public_feeds/marketplace-pm/rss/rss"
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},
"masters-of-scale": {
"id": "masters-of-scale",
"title": "Masters of Scale",
"info": "Masters of Scale is an original podcast in which LinkedIn co-founder and Greylock Partner Reid Hoffman sets out to describe and prove theories that explain how great entrepreneurs take their companies from zero to a gazillion in ingenious fashion.",
"airtime": "Every other Wednesday June 12 through October 16 at 8pm (repeats Thursdays at 2am)",
"imageSrc": "https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/Masters-of-Scale-Podcast-Tile-360x360-1.jpg",
"officialWebsiteLink": "https://mastersofscale.com/",
"meta": {
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"source": "WaitWhat"
},
"link": "/radio/program/masters-of-scale",
"subscribe": {
"apple": "http://mastersofscale.app.link/",
"rss": "https://rss.art19.com/masters-of-scale"
}
},
"mindshift": {
"id": "mindshift",
"title": "MindShift",
"tagline": "A podcast about the future of learning and how we raise our kids",
"info": "The MindShift podcast explores the innovations in education that are shaping how kids learn. Hosts Ki Sung and Katrina Schwartz introduce listeners to educators, researchers, parents and students who are developing effective ways to improve how kids learn. We cover topics like how fed-up administrators are developing surprising tactics to deal with classroom disruptions; how listening to podcasts are helping kids develop reading skills; the consequences of overparenting; and why interdisciplinary learning can engage students on all ends of the traditional achievement spectrum. This podcast is part of the MindShift education site, a division of KQED News. KQED is an NPR/PBS member station based in San Francisco. You can also visit the MindShift website for episodes and supplemental blog posts or tweet us \u003ca href=\"https://twitter.com/MindShiftKQED\">@MindShiftKQED\u003c/a> or visit us at \u003ca href=\"/mindshift\">MindShift.KQED.org\u003c/a>",
"imageSrc": "https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/Mindshift-Podcast-Tile-703x703-1.jpg",
"imageAlt": "KQED MindShift: How We Will Learn",
"officialWebsiteLink": "/mindshift/",
"meta": {
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"source": "kqed",
"order": 12
},
"link": "/podcasts/mindshift",
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"google": "https://podcasts.google.com/feed/aHR0cHM6Ly9mZWVkcy5tZWdhcGhvbmUuZm0vS1FJTkM1NzY0NjAwNDI5",
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"stitcher": "https://www.stitcher.com/podcast/kqed/stories-teachers-share",
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}
},
"morning-edition": {
"id": "morning-edition",
"title": "Morning Edition",
"info": "\u003cem>Morning Edition\u003c/em> takes listeners around the country and the world with multi-faceted stories and commentaries every weekday. Hosts Steve Inskeep, David Greene and Rachel Martin bring you the latest breaking news and features to prepare you for the day.",
"airtime": "MON-FRI 3am-9am",
"imageSrc": "https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/Morning-Edition-Podcast-Tile-360x360-1.jpg",
"officialWebsiteLink": "https://www.npr.org/programs/morning-edition/",
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"link": "/radio/program/morning-edition"
},
"onourwatch": {
"id": "onourwatch",
"title": "On Our Watch",
"tagline": "Deeply-reported investigative journalism",
"info": "For decades, the process for how police police themselves has been inconsistent – if not opaque. In some states, like California, these proceedings were completely hidden. After a new police transparency law unsealed scores of internal affairs files, our reporters set out to examine these cases and the shadow world of police discipline. On Our Watch brings listeners into the rooms where officers are questioned and witnesses are interrogated to find out who this system is really protecting. Is it the officers, or the public they've sworn to serve?",
"imageSrc": "https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/On-Our-Watch-Podcast-Tile-703x703-1.jpg",
"imageAlt": "On Our Watch from NPR and KQED",
"officialWebsiteLink": "/podcasts/onourwatch",
"meta": {
"site": "news",
"source": "kqed",
"order": 11
},
"link": "/podcasts/onourwatch",
"subscribe": {
"apple": "https://podcasts.apple.com/podcast/id1567098962",
"google": "https://podcasts.google.com/feed/aHR0cHM6Ly9mZWVkcy5ucHIub3JnLzUxMDM2MC9wb2RjYXN0LnhtbD9zYz1nb29nbGVwb2RjYXN0cw",
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"stitcher": "https://www.stitcher.com/show/on-our-watch",
"rss": "https://feeds.npr.org/510360/podcast.xml"
}
},
"on-the-media": {
"id": "on-the-media",
"title": "On The Media",
"info": "Our weekly podcast explores how the media 'sausage' is made, casts an incisive eye on fluctuations in the marketplace of ideas, and examines threats to the freedom of information and expression in America and abroad. For one hour a week, the show tries to lift the veil from the process of \"making media,\" especially news media, because it's through that lens that we see the world and the world sees us",
"airtime": "SUN 2pm-3pm, MON 12am-1am",
"imageSrc": "https://ww2.kqed.org/radio/wp-content/uploads/sites/50/2018/04/onTheMedia.png",
"officialWebsiteLink": "https://www.wnycstudios.org/shows/otm",
"meta": {
"site": "news",
"source": "wnyc"
},
"link": "/radio/program/on-the-media",
"subscribe": {
"apple": "https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/on-the-media/id73330715?mt=2",
"tuneIn": "https://tunein.com/radio/On-the-Media-p69/",
"rss": "http://feeds.wnyc.org/onthemedia"
}
},
"pbs-newshour": {
"id": "pbs-newshour",
"title": "PBS NewsHour",
"info": "Analysis, background reports and updates from the PBS NewsHour putting today's news in context.",
"airtime": "MON-FRI 3pm-4pm",
"imageSrc": "https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/PBS-News-Hour-Podcast-Tile-360x360-1.jpg",
"officialWebsiteLink": "https://www.pbs.org/newshour/",
"meta": {
"site": "news",
"source": "pbs"
},
"link": "/radio/program/pbs-newshour",
"subscribe": {
"apple": "https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/pbs-newshour-full-show/id394432287?mt=2",
"tuneIn": "https://tunein.com/radio/PBS-NewsHour---Full-Show-p425698/",
"rss": "https://www.pbs.org/newshour/feeds/rss/podcasts/show"
}
},
"perspectives": {
"id": "perspectives",
"title": "Perspectives",
"tagline": "KQED's series of daily listener commentaries since 1991",
"info": "KQED's series of daily listener commentaries since 1991.",
"imageSrc": "https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/Perspectives_Tile_Final.jpg",
"imageAlt": "KQED Perspectives",
"officialWebsiteLink": "/perspectives/",
"meta": {
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"source": "kqed",
"order": 14
},
"link": "/perspectives",
"subscribe": {
"apple": "https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/id73801135",
"npr": "https://www.npr.org/podcasts/432309616/perspectives",
"rss": "https://ww2.kqed.org/perspectives/category/perspectives/feed/",
"google": "https://podcasts.google.com/feed/aHR0cHM6Ly93dzIua3FlZC5vcmcvcGVyc3BlY3RpdmVzL2NhdGVnb3J5L3BlcnNwZWN0aXZlcy9mZWVkLw"
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},
"planet-money": {
"id": "planet-money",
"title": "Planet Money",
"info": "The economy explained. Imagine you could call up a friend and say, Meet me at the bar and tell me what's going on with the economy. Now imagine that's actually a fun evening.",
"airtime": "SUN 3pm-4pm",
"imageSrc": "https://ww2.kqed.org/radio/wp-content/uploads/sites/50/2018/04/planetmoney.jpg",
"officialWebsiteLink": "https://www.npr.org/sections/money/",
"meta": {
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"source": "npr"
},
"link": "/radio/program/planet-money",
"subscribe": {
"npr": "https://rpb3r.app.goo.gl/M4f5",
"apple": "https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/planet-money/id290783428?mt=2",
"tuneIn": "https://tunein.com/podcasts/Business--Economics-Podcasts/Planet-Money-p164680/",
"rss": "https://feeds.npr.org/510289/podcast.xml"
}
},
"politicalbreakdown": {
"id": "politicalbreakdown",
"title": "Political Breakdown",
"tagline": "Politics from a personal perspective",
"info": "Political Breakdown is a new series that explores the political intersection of California and the nation. Each week hosts Scott Shafer and Marisa Lagos are joined with a new special guest to unpack politics -- with personality — and offer an insider’s glimpse at how politics happens.",
"airtime": "THU 6:30pm-7pm",
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