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Meta founder and CEO Mark Zuckerberg defended the social media platforms his company owns Testimony before a jury in Los Angeles County Circuit Court this week. Zuckerberg said Instagram, the platform targeted in a trial on social media addiction, is not inherently addictive, but it provides a valuable service, so “people will want to use it more.”
The caseThe lawsuit, filed in 2023 by a Californian who claims she became addicted to Instagram from an early age and suffered harmful effects, is one of many high-profile suits that could shake up the social media landscape for companies including YouTube, TikTok and Snap, among others.
In his testimony, Zuckerberg was asked not only whether his company knew about it The impact of social networks on childrenbut also about whether age restrictions are sufficient. Zuckerberg revealed that early in 2018, he… I reached out to Apple CEO Tim Cook They seek to discuss the “well-being of children and adolescents” using their company’s technology. Apple did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
During his testimony, Zuckerberg repeatedly said that the statements he made had been mischaracterized and that social networks could be useful in connecting people. He said Meta had worked to establish age restrictions and guidelines, but could not always prevent young people from accessing its services.
Instagram introduced teen accounts In 2024 with DM protections and PG-13 style restrictions To limit the content that appears on them.
At one point during the trial, Zuckerberg was asked whether Meta should try to help young people.
“I think a reasonable company should try to help the person who uses their services,” he said.
The focus was also on Zuckerberg himself, and whether his behavior in public appearances was considered “robotic,” requiring media training to provide warmer answers.
“I’m known to be kind of bad at this,” he admitted.
Social networks such as “digital casinos”
Another line of inquiry Zuckerberg responded to is whether social media networks are intentionally designed to be addictive, like “digital casinos” that get people to spend as much time as possible interacting and viewing content.
Natalie Bazarovaprofessor of communications at Cornell University and chair of its department Social media labThat’s the crux of this and other trials companies like Meta face, he says.
“The key question is whether companies have intentionally designed these products to harm young people by exploiting natural biases toward instant gratification and engineering design features that provide continuous, effortless reinforcement, thus hijacking self-control to encourage compulsive use,” Bazarova said.
She said companies’ accountability may be determined by whether they truly “create meaningful experiences, as platforms often claim, or if they do so at the expense of known risks to users’ well-being, as some internal documents seem to suggest.”
Technology’s control over children is a problem
Tech industry watchers are watching this trial closely because a ruling against Meta could open the floodgates to litigation against other tech companies at a time when lawmakers are closely examining the effects of social media and artificial intelligence on teens and young children.
Sexual and violent content is just the tip of the iceberg regarding the risks children face from these technologies; Other concerns include contact from potential predators, mental health threats from bullying and harassment, and the physiological effects of too much screen time.
One way some tech companies address complaints or try to get ahead of regulations and legal action is by adding age estimation or verification technology, as Roblox, Sedition and YouTube I did recently.
This did not stop countries Like Australia From banning social media entirely for children, or Spain from Establish stricter age restrictions On its use from the United States.