Mark Zuckerberg, chief executive of Meta Platforms, took the stand in a California courtroom on Wednesday to defend his leadership in a landmark case examining whether social media platforms are addictive for children.
It marked Mark Zuckerberg’s first appearance before a jury following years of scrutiny directed at Meta Platforms, the parent company of WhatsApp and Facebook, which he co-founded.
Meta’s legal team contends that the lead plaintiff, identified by her initials K.G.M., suffered harm due to other circumstances in her life rather than her use of Instagram. The closely watched trial also names YouTube, owned by Google, as a defendant, and is seen as a bellwether for thousands of similar lawsuits confronting social media companies.
Meanwhile, TikTok and Snapchat, which were initially included in the lawsuit, reached settlements shortly before the trial was set to begin. The terms were not disclosed.
Attorneys for K.G.M., also known as Kaley, who began using Instagram and YouTube as a child, allege that social media firms deliberately designed their platforms to foster addiction among young users despite being aware of potential mental health risks. She was present in court on Wednesday, seated directly opposite Zuckerberg, who arrived accompanied by security personnel and associates.
Grieving parents were also present in the courtroom, observing the proceedings. Mark Lanier, counsel for K.G.M., challenged Mark Zuckerberg over his past efforts to boost user engagement, confronting him with internal emails he had written.
In one 2015 message to executives, Zuckerberg outlined goals that included increasing “time spent” on the platform by 12 percent and reversing a decline in teenage users. A year earlier, he had described time spent as “the most concerning” metric the company was monitoring. Pointing toward his client, Lanier emphasized that those emails were written when she was just nine or 10 years old and already using Instagram.
Zuckerberg acknowledged that “at an earlier point in the company,” he set targets aimed at increasing time spent on the platform, but maintained that this was no longer how Meta Platforms operates. He added that when a product provides value, “people tend to use it more.”
Lanier noted that people who are addicted to something also tend to increase their use.
“I don’t know what to say to that,” Zuckerberg replied. “I think that may be true, but I don’t know if that applies here.” In questioning last week, Adam Mosseri, the head of Instagram, challenged the idea of social media addiction, arguing that even 16-hours of Instagram use in a single day did not show an addiction.
The trial is expected to last several weeks. It is also set to include testimony from former Meta employees who have since spoken out about the company’s practices.
YouTube boss Neal Mohan was also expected to appear but is no longer being called to testify, the BBC has learned. The case is one of thousands of similar lawsuits brought by families, state prosecutors, and school districts that are currently winding their way through U.S. courts
