Zuckerberg disputes claim he misled Congress as LA jury hears emails on time-spent goals in youth social media addiction trial
Meta Platforms CEO Mark Zuckerberg pushed back in a Los Angeles courtroom against a lawyer’s suggestion that he misled U.S. lawmakers about how the company designed Facebook and Instagram, as a landmark jury trial over youth social media addiction pressed forward.
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Questioned about his 2024 congressional testimony — in which he said Meta did not direct teams to maximize time spent on its apps — Zuckerberg was confronted with internal emails from 2014 and 2015 that set double-digit percentage targets to increase time on platform. He acknowledged Meta previously tracked and set goals around usage but said the company has since changed its approach.
The appearance marked Zuckerberg’s first time testifying in court about Instagram’s effects on the mental health of young users. While he has addressed the topic before Congress, the stakes are higher before a jury: Meta could face damages if it loses, and a verdict against the company could weaken Big Tech’s longstanding legal defenses against claims of user harm.
The case centers on a California woman who began using Instagram and Google’s YouTube as a child. She alleges the companies designed their services to hook children and profited despite knowing the potential for harm, and she says the apps fueled depression and suicidal thoughts. Meta and Google deny the allegations and point to safety features they say are meant to protect teens. Meta has cited a National Academies of Sciences finding that research does not show social media changes kids’ mental health.
The lawsuit is widely viewed as a test for a wave of litigation against Meta, Alphabet’s Google, Snap and TikTok. Families, school districts and states have filed thousands of U.S. lawsuits asserting that platform designs contribute to a youth mental health crisis.
Evidence at trial has included internal Meta documents surfaced by investigative reporting over the years. Among them: research disclosed last October indicating that teens who said Instagram regularly made them feel worse about their bodies encountered significantly more “eating disorder adjacent” material than peers who did not report those feelings.
Adam Mosseri, head of Instagram, testified last week that he was unaware of a recent Meta study finding no link between parental supervision and teens’ attentiveness to their own social media use. According to the document shown in court, teens dealing with difficult life circumstances were more likely to say they used Instagram habitually or unintentionally.
Meta’s attorney told jurors the plaintiff’s health records point to a troubled childhood as the source of her struggles, arguing that social media served as a creative outlet rather than a cause of harm.
The courtroom fight is unfolding amid a global backlash over children’s mental health and social media. Australia has barred users under 16 from accessing social platforms, and Ireland, France and Spain are weighing similar limits. In the United States, Florida has prohibited companies from allowing users under 14, a law currently being challenged by tech industry trade groups.
The Los Angeles trial continues, with jurors set to weigh whether platform design choices harmed the plaintiff and whether the companies took adequate steps to safeguard young users.
By Abdiwahab Ahmed
Axadle Times international–Monitoring.
