In a heated trial in Los Angeles Superior Court, Meta Platforms CEO Mark Zuckerberg took the witness stand in a high-stakes civil trial that could reshape how social media companies are held accountable for the mental health effects of their products on young users. The case centers on allegations that Meta’s social platforms and Google‘s YouTube were deliberately engineered to be addictive to children and teenagers, contributing to long-term psychological harm.
The lawsuit was filed by a 20-year-old California woman identified only as K.G.M., who says that heavy use of Instagram and YouTube during her childhood fueled depression, anxiety, and suicidal thoughts. Her attorneys have framed the platforms’ algorithmic features like infinite scroll, push notifications, and “likes” as tools designed to maximize engagement, particularly among vulnerable young users.
Zuckerberg’s testimony marks his first time defending Meta under oath before a jury in this context. He arrived at the downtown Los Angeles courthouse on Wednesday morning and was later sworn in to answer questions from the plaintiff’s legal team.
According to reporting from The Guardian, Zuckerberg vigorously denied that Meta intentionally seeks to addict children or exploit users for profit. Asked about past comments made under oath to Congress, he acknowledged that Meta once set internal goals targeting increased user engagement but insisted that the company has since shifted its focus and no longer uses those metrics to drive design decisions.
Zuckerberg was also pressed about Instagram’s longstanding rule barring users under age 13. He maintained that children below that age have never been permitted on Instagram, but “a meaningful number of people who lie about their age to use our services.” He added, “We try to create a service that is valuable for people, and they will continue to use it more.”
Defense attorneys further sought to distance Meta from claims that harmful content or addictive design caused the plaintiff’s mental health struggles. Meta’s legal team argued that K.G.M. faced significant personal challenges before she ever used social media and that the platforms served more as a coping mechanism than a root cause of harm. The plaintiff’s attorneys have put internal Meta documents before the jury that suggest the company was aware of large numbers of underage users and once measured success by screen time.
This case is being watched as a bellwether for hundreds of similar lawsuits against Big Tech across the United States. Both Snapchat and TikTok settled related claims before trial began, leaving Meta and YouTube as the remaining defendants in the Los Angeles courtroom. “A trial like this one will hopefully uncover the disconnect between what companies say publicly to drive up business and engagement and what is actually going on behind the scenes,” UCLA law professor and tech justice attorney Melodi Dinçer told CBS News.
