Grieving parents of teens who died after falling prey to social-media addiction are blasting Dem governor hopeful Xavier Becerra as a hypocrite — saying he’s given lip service to protecting vulnerable kids while still pocketing campaign cash from Meta.

And Becerra’s main foe in the June 2 primary, billionaire Tom Steyer, has now joined the chorus.
Meta — found liable for hurting kids with deliberately addictive features on Instagram and Facebook — poured nearly $1 million into an independent PAC supporting Becerra’s bid for California statehouse, campaign records show.

“Why is he going to align himself with a company proven in a court of law to have hurt kids, profited off of it, and then lied about it?” said Julianna Arnold, a leader of Parents RISE! — which pushes for stricter regulation of social media and AI tools.

Arnold said her 17-year-old daughter, Coco, died after meeting an older man on Instagram who “groomed” her and gave her a pill she believed was Percocet to relieve anxiety.

“It’s really disappointing,” Arnold said of Becerra.

“I understand that California is home to Big Tech, but it’s a little shocking that [Becerra] would take $1 million from Meta when in August his own state will be suing them on behalf of children.”

Meta was held liable in March in a landmark Los Angeles trial for negligent platform design, including autoplay and “infinite scroll” features that wrecked a young woman’s mental health starting when she was a teen, a lawsuit said.

In a related case in New Mexico, Meta was found liable under state claims related to risks of Instagram use and hit with a civil penalty of $375 million. Meta is appealing both verdicts.

In a statement, Becerra’s campaign spokesperson Jonathan Underland said he has “no control or influence over donations to independent expenditures,” which are barred from coordinating with candidates. 

But social media survivors say the hefty donation is symptomatic of a broken system in which companies can ward off regulations with big checks. 

Victoria Hinks, a Bay Area mom, said she watched her “happy, joyful, kind and beautiful” 16-year-old daughter Alexandra get bombarded with disturbing content that “normalized” eating disorders. She died by suicide in 2024.

“Kids are dying. This is an epidemic,” Hinks, also a Parents Rise! leader, said.

Democratic rival Tom Steyer also ripped into Meta boss Mark Zuckerberg over his company’s campaign contributions to Becerra.

Steyer posted a screenshot on X of campaign filings showing a $950,000 donation from Zuckerberg’s Meta Platforms Inc. to an Oakland-based group supporting Becerra’s bid for governor.

“5 p.m. today: Meta gives $950K for @XavierBecerra. 4 a.m. tomorrow: Meta lays off 10% of workforce,” Steyer wrote on Tuesday. “… Mark Zuckerberg wants a friend in Sacramento. I won’t be.”

“Xavier Becerra has never been bought by a check, and his record proves it. As Attorney General, he led California into a multistate antitrust action against Facebook over its acquisitions of Instagram and WhatsApp,” Underland added.

“Anyone who threatens Californians’ safety or quality of life will answer for it.”

Hinks called the $1 million Meta donation “politics at its worst” that indicates the controversial firm believes Becerra will be “soft on Big Tech.”

‘They’re betting he’s going to have Zuckerberg’s back, and not ours,” she said.

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