Zuckerberg Pushes Back Against Instagram Addiction Claims

(MENAFN) Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg took the witness stand Wednesday in a Los Angeles courtroom, delivering combative testimony in which he flatly denied that Instagram was engineered to hook young users — pushing back forcefully against allegations that the platform inflicts lasting harm on children.

In his first-ever courtroom appearance centered on child safety, Zuckerberg squared off against plaintiffs’ attorneys in Los Angeles County Superior Court, defending Meta against a sweeping lawsuit targeting the mental health consequences of social media on minors.

When pressed on whether Meta profits from addicting its users, he was direct: “I’m focused on building a community that is sustainable.”

The case is the opening salvo in a consolidated legal battle involving more than 1,600 plaintiffs — among them over 350 families and more than 250 school districts — who allege that the companies behind Instagram, YouTube, TikTok, and Snapchat deliberately engineered addictive products that have devastated the mental wellbeing of young users.

Zuckerberg argued that addiction runs counter to Meta’s long-term business interests. “If you do something that’s not good for people, maybe they’ll spend more time (on Instagram) short term, but if they’re not happy with it, they’re not going to use it over time. I’m not trying to maximize the amount of time people spend every month,” he said, according to media.

At the center of the trial is the lead plaintiff, a 20-year-old woman identified as K.G.M., referred to in court as Kaley G.M., who was a minor when she claims early and prolonged social media use triggered addiction and deteriorated her mental health. She alleges the platforms were deliberately designed with profit-driven addictive features. TikTok and Snap reached settlements with Kaley ahead of trial, though both companies still face related litigation scheduled for later this year. Kaley attended part of Wednesday’s proceedings but did not take the stand. Her attorney, Mark Lanier, struck a confident tone outside the courtroom, saying it was “going to be a good day.”

Zuckerberg held firm that Instagram has always barred children under 13 from the platform — a claim complicated by Kaley’s allegation that she first created an account at age 9. Addressing the discrepancy, he said, “I generally think that there are a set of people, potentially a meaningful number of people, who lie about their age in order to use our services. There’s a separate and very important question about enforcement, and it’s very difficult.”

The defense ran into turbulence when Lanier introduced a 2018 internal Meta document estimating that approximately 4 million Instagram users were under the age of 13 — accounting for roughly 30% of all American children between 10 and 12 at the time. While Zuckerberg acknowledged that Meta has since developed tools to flag underage users, Lanier countered that no such age verification mechanisms were in place when many of those children first signed up.

Further damaging internal records surfaced during testimony. A 2017 employee message revealed staff members openly criticizing what they described as Zuckerberg’s directive to “go after under 13-year-olds,” with one employee bluntly writing: “Yeah, it was gross the last time he mentioned it.”

A separate 2022 internal document outlined engagement benchmarks targeting 40 minutes of daily Instagram use per user in 2023, with projections climbing to 46 minutes by 2026. Zuckerberg disputed any sinister interpretation of the figures. “These aren’t goals we give the teams for executing their jobs,” he said. “They’re ways we measure across the industry whether what we’re creating is on track.”

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