Mark Zuckerberg testifies in civil trial over social media addiction

Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg took the stand in Los Angeles on Wednesday in a landmark case about social media addiction. It marked the billionaire’s first time testifying before a jury, fighting claims that Meta intentionally designed Instagram to be addictive to children. A publicly unidentified 19-year-old plaintiff brought the Los Angeles case, claiming that her use of social media from a young age caused her to become addicted and worsened her depression and suicidal thoughts.

What did Zuckerberg say on the stand? When asked if he believed people tend to use something more if it’s addictive, he said he wasn’t sure how to reply and felt the concept didn’t apply to the case at hand, according to the Associated Press, which had a reporter in the courtroom.

The CEO insisted Meta did not aim to make users addicted to Instagram, a platform known for hosting photos and short-form videos. Zuckerberg insisted that the company did not consider it a goal to maximize the amount of time users spend on Instagram.

The plaintiff’s attorney, Mark Lanier, then pointed to internal company documents showing Instagram employees with goals of increasing user time on the app. Zuckerberg addressed the apparent contradiction by acknowledging that the company at one time did have in-app time goals, but had since intentionally moved away from those goals to focus on utility instead. People will use something over a long period of time because it’s valuable and useful to them, the CEO said.

Lanier also grilled Zuckerberg on Meta’s age verification policies, resulting in a protracted back-and-forth. Lanier cited a 2015 internal document estimating that over 4 million Instagram users were under the age of 13, including the plaintiff, who began using the app at the age of 9, according to reporting by CNN. He also cited a company document describing the need to hook users as tweens if the app wanted to be successful with teenagers.

The CEO repeatedly insisted that Meta barred Instagram users under the age of 13 and worked to root out users who lied about their ages. Social media platforms as a whole struggle to confirm young users’ ages since teens lack government IDs, he said. Meta also uses artificial intelligence to estimate user ages and enforce teen safety measures, Zuckerberg added. Teenage users account for less than 1% of Instagram’s revenue, since they don’t have a disposable income and therefore aren’t valuable for advertisers, the CEO said.

Zuckerberg also addressed allegations that Instagram’s beauty filters, which mimic plastic surgery or other physical enhancements in user photos, harm teens’ self-perception. Meta decided to allow the filters in the name of free expression, but does not recommend or push them on users, Zuckerberg said, according to CNN reporting.

How are critics responding to the testimony? Online child advocacy group Fairplay released a Wednesday night statement describing Zuckerberg’s testimony as disgraceful and dishonest. Zuckerberg has proven several times that he can’t be trusted, and it’s time for Congress to act before Meta’s greed takes more lives, the group said.

Members of the nonprofit Parents RISE, a group for parents who say they lost children as a result of harmful social media practices, gathered outside the Los Angeles County Superior Court on Wednesday. Parents RISE member Julianna Arnold, whose 17-year-old daughter died after obtaining drugs via Instagram, told reporters that Zuckerberg knew full well the damage that his app caused children. The company intentionally preyed on teens in the name of profits, she said. Although it’s unclear whether anything will change, at least the world knows what’s really going on inside Meta, Arnold added. WORLD reached out to the advocacy group Parents RISE for comment. This story will be updated with any response received.

Dig deeper: Read my previous report for more about Meta’s trials in Los Angeles and New Mexico.