Judge Allows Key Witness, Evidence in California's Meta Lawsuit Ahead of Trial

In a brief order Sunday, Chief Judge Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers of the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California resolved two pretrial disputes, giving procedural wins to a multistate coalition of attorneys general. The states accuse Meta of designing its products to addict children and misleading the public about their safety. The judge allowed whistleblower Arturo Béjar to testify, despite Meta's claim that he let Signal chats with other insiders auto-delete against retention orders.

Gonzalez Rogers called that argument a 'Hail Mary' attempt to eliminate a strong witness for the plaintiffs, writing, 'The attempt fails. The ruling clears the way for opening statements in the landmark trial.