Meta appears to have listened to the Supernatural users who protested the app's sad fate after sweeping layoffs.

As we noted last night, Eterspire – the cozy indie crossplatform MMO from Argentine dev studio Stonehollow Workshop – officially surprise-launched out of early access. In celebration of the launch, Stonehollow has kindly granted us codes for the Eterspire Infinite to raffle to our readers! Eterspire is a free-to-play game with no sub; instead, it […]

Mark Zuckerberg found himself on the stand yesterday, facing a lawsuit that claims Meta platforms like Instagram and Facebook are intentionally designed to hook kids. Before the real legal drama began, though, the judge had to lay down the law about smart glasses, specifically those snazzy Meta Ray-Bans worn by some of Zuckerberg’s team, as reported by Techspot. It seems Judge Carolyn Kuhl isn’t a fan of recording devices in her courtroom, and she made that abundantly clear.

The judge warned anyone wearing smart glasses that using their recording features would lead to contempt of court charges. She told everyone, “If you have done that, you must delete that, or you will be held in contempt of the court.” It’s a pretty serious warning, and it came after at least two people on Zuckerberg’s escort team were spotted wearing the Meta Ray-Ban glasses as they entered the building.

California Superior Courtrooms have strict rules against recording and photography. If you’re caught breaking these rules, you could face monetary penalties, get removed from the courtroom, or even be charged with contempt of court. It’s a big deal, and the judge wasn’t messing around.

This incident just highlights a growing concern with smart glasses: privacy

While Meta’s Ray-Ban glasses are supposed to show a blinking LED when they’re recording, it’s possible to modify them to hide that light. We saw a similar situation in August 2025 when a TikTok user shared her experience at a European Wax Center in Manhattan. She noticed her aesthetician was wearing Meta Ray-Bans, which understandably made her feel a bit “shaken.”

The worker claimed the batteries were dead, and the company later stated their employees keep the glasses turned off during appointments. Still, it just shows how sensitive the public is becoming to these devices and their potential for discreet recording.

Judge in Meta addiction trial warns that anyone wearing smart glasses, such as Ray-Ban Meta models, risks contempt of court charges if they use the devices to record proceedings.

The admonition came during Mark Zuckerberg's testimony in Los Angeles Superior Court. pic.twitter.com/WhGStsGrID

— Pirat_Nation (@Pirat_Nation) February 20, 2026

Back in the courtroom, the actual case, K.G.M. v. Meta et al., is much more serious than a smart glasses kerfuffle. This lawsuit involves a 20-year-old Californian identified as Kaley, who alleges that her years of using Instagram, TikTok, YouTube, and Snapchat as a child led to severe issues like body dysmorphia, depression, and self-destructive thoughts. TikTok and Snap Inc., which owns Snapchat, have already settled their parts of the case, leaving Meta to face the music.

During his testimony, Zuckerberg did admit that some people lie about their age when signing up for Instagram. The platform requires users to be 13 or older, but that rule hasn’t always been enforced in the same way. Plaintiff’s lawyers presented internal documents from 2015 that showed over 4 million Instagram users in the US were under 13 years old.

It’s interesting to note that Instagram didn’t even start requiring birthdays at sign-up until late 2019. Kaley, the plaintiff in this case, reportedly joined Instagram when she was just 9 years old. When asked why Instagram didn’t ask for user ages before 2019, Zuckerberg said it was due to privacy concerns. However, he never gave a direct answer when asked if Instagram was addictive.

Meta is making its biggest play yet in the political arena, launching what’s set to be its largest push to back political candidates in the company’s history. This significant move comes at a time when the social media giant is dealing with a lot of negative attention and some of its toughest legal challenges ever.

The company is kicking off a massive $65 million effort ahead of this year’s midterm elections, as reported by MS Now. The goal is to boost state politicians who are friendly to the artificial intelligence industry, with initial efforts focusing on Texas and Illinois. This is a record-breaking sum for Meta’s election investments.

Company representatives have indicated that this huge investment is fueled by worries over potential regulatory threats to the artificial intelligence industry. Meta is looking to fight back against legislation in various states that it fears could slow down or hinder AI development. It’s a pretty clear signal that they want to shape the future of AI without too much government interference.

What’s really interesting is that Meta isn’t picking sides; they’re backing both Democrats and Republicans

They’re using two different super PACs to do this. One group, called Forge the Future Project, is throwing its weight behind Republican candidates. The other, Making Our Tomorrow, is supporting Democrats. These new PACs are joining two others Meta already had, one of which focuses specifically on California, while the other is a broader organization that funds the company’s spending in other states.

For years, Meta and its CEO, Mark Zuckerberg, have shown support for President Donald Trump, who, in turn, has pushed to stop states from regulating companies that invest in artificial intelligence tools. So, in a way, what Meta is doing now with this spending spree feels a lot like the bold, almost oligarchic behavior we’ve seen from other tech leaders who use their financial power to influence midterm elections and the political system more generally.

NEWS:

Meta is about to start a $65 million midterms push — its biggest political effort in its 20 years in business.

Meta is standing up two super PACs that this week will drop money in races in Texas and Illinois to push A.I.

Exclusive w/ @matt_zdun.https://t.co/xWPDFwmjsr

— Teddy Schleifer (@teddyschleifer) February 18, 2026

However, I think there’s a unique level of public frustration directed at Meta and its platforms right now. You can see it in the numerous lawsuits they’re facing and the public condemnations from former employees. In recent years, the company has had to navigate various scandals where its algorithm-based platforms have been accused of being used to undermine democracy, facilitate child predation, and even incite violence, including in the lead-up to January 6, 2021.

Meta is currently fighting multiple lawsuits, some of which could be landmark cases. These lawsuits accuse its executives of knowingly creating products with addictive qualities that have been particularly harmful to children. The company, for its part, has denied these claims. Beyond the legal battles, Meta is also looking to expand its number of data centers, those massive, resource-intensive facilities that have drawn significant criticism from communities across the nation.

With all of this in mind, Meta’s decision to back candidates this election cycle presents a pretty big question for voters. It makes you wonder whether, and to what extent, people will support a candidate who is financially backed by a company that operates some of the world’s most widely criticized platforms.

MOP’s Justin has joked, darkly, that the Ashes of Creation fiasco is shaping up to be the next-gen 38 Studios, and I am sad to admit he is probably right – it’s another failed MMORPG that we’ll be stuck talking about for the next 10 years thanks to lawsuits and countersuits that most definitely will […]

Join us for our weekly open thread! We're discussing what MMOs we're playing this weekend and answering a bonus question about movies you've somehow never seen...

This week’s Massively Overthinking is inspired by a tweet I saw from SMITE, of all games, where the Hi-Rez devs asked players to propose one god to delete from the game. Obviously, this is not a serious proposition, but in the aggregate, the answers can kinda show a trend in what people are tired of, […]

Meta Corporation will undergo a significant restructuring within its Reality Labs division, which deals with the metaverse and virtual reality technologies. Among those affected will be gaming teams.

More details: https://gameworldobserver.com/2026/01/14/meta-is-closing-three-vr-studios-as-part-of-major-cutbacks

Meta said it's shifting focus for Horizon Worlds to be "almost exclusively mobile" and that it will separate its Quest VR platform from the virtual world.

Launching in-message games would give Threads an edge over competitors like X and Bluesky, which don’t offer built-in games.

The last few years have been quiet on the legal issues in games, but in true 2025 fashion, this year was a legal drama-llama. Granted, maybe a little bit more on the “Ally McBeal” side of legal drama than the “Matlock.” But hey, I’m here for it. From corporate-facepalm shenanigans to Roblox spending another year […]

The informational hits keep on coming for Elder Scrolls Online’s big ol’ March content patch, and while most of the attention has been centered on its seasons and monetization reshuffling, there’s a variety of things also landing in Update 49, namely a refresh of the Dragonknight class. The tweaks to the Dragonknight primarily focus on […]

So 2025 marks the 11th year in a row when we have put together a roundup of all the MMORPG-tinged science topics we covered this year, and I’m noticing two trends worth pointing out. First, the number of MMORPGs that are running polls and surveys to actually ask their players what they think about things […]

Welcome back to MassivelyOP’s annual awards for one more special honoree. Readers will remember that a few years ago, we decided to institute a lifetime achievement award specifically to honor an MMORPG that has made a significant contribution to the genre over the course of its lifetime and the genre’s history but may not be […]

before we go any further, let’s establish some ground rules: the word I shouted was “fjord” I will not explain why I shouted “fjord” the questions about my t-shirt that says “fjord is a mating ritual for me” are all answered by the presence of my t-shirt and I will not answer further questions about […]

Today we’re finishing up our traditional countdown of MassivelyOP’s weirdest MMORPG stories of the year, that year being 2025! Coming in at #1 on our list is… Oh come on, you knew it was War Thunder again This award has been a tradition since 2021, when it first became mainstream news that military nerds were […]

Welcome back to MassivelyOP’s annual MMORPG awards for 2025! Today’s award is for the MMORPG of the Year, which was awarded to Throne & Liberty last year. Longtime readers will recall that way back in 2014, our staff was so disillusioned with the new MMOs launching that we withheld this award and picked “nothing” as our […]

You know, for all the MMORPGs we cover here on MassivelyOP, the ones that speak to me personally enough to actually capture my precious free time are few and far between. In 2025, while I at least dipped a toe into a long list of games, the ones I submerged in can be counted on […]

So here we are, at the top of a new year, 12 whole months of screwing around in video games laid out before us. In tonight’s Massively Overthinking, we have but one question: What are you gonna do with those 12 months?! I’m asking our writers and readers to rattle off what they think will […]

Today we’re continuing our traditional countdown of MassivelyOP’s weirdest MMORPG stories of the year, that year being 2025! Coming in at #2 on our list is… Roblox’s Grow A Garden When I first heard about the viral hit Roblox MMO called Grow A Garden, I was full of snark. I mean, gardening and farming games […]