Zuckerberg Testifies in L.A. Social‑Media Addiction Bellwether as Plaintiffs Cite Internal Time‑Spent and Child‑User Emails
Mark Zuckerberg testified in a Los Angeles bellwether trial where families allege Meta engineered addictive social media for children, as plaintiffs presented internal documents including a 2016 Zuckerberg email setting a 12% "time spent" goal, a 2015 estimate that about 4 million under‑13s used Instagram, a Project Myst study finding traumatized or stressed teens especially vulnerable, and internal messages likening Instagram or YouTube to a drug or a casino. Instagram chief Adam Mosseri testified he does not believe social media causes clinical addiction and described problems as "problematic use" while defending product choices and recent changes (including ending third‑party AR filters), and Meta argues harms stem from multiple factors and invokes Section 230 in disputing liability.
📌 Key Facts
- Mark Zuckerberg personally testified before a Los Angeles Superior Court jury in the bellwether social‑media addiction trial, facing families who allege Meta’s products harmed their children.
- Plaintiffs’ lead lawyer Mark Lanier framed the case as Meta and Google having 'addicted the brains of children,' calling them 'two of the richest corporations in history,' and disclosed Meta’s internal 'Project Myst' study finding traumatized or stressed teens were especially vulnerable and that parental controls had 'little impact.'
- Plaintiffs introduced internal documents and emails showing Meta set a 2016 goal to increase user time spent by 12%, estimated roughly 4 million children under 13 were using Instagram in 2015, and received internal advice (in 2017) to appear more sympathetic in public remarks about child safety; separate internal messages likened YouTube to a casino and described Instagram as 'like a drug' with employees 'basically pushers.'
- Zuckerberg testified that Meta no longer has 'time spent' goals and was questioned about whether his prior statements to Congress downplayed addiction concerns in light of the internal documents shown to the jury.
- The lead bellwether plaintiff, identified as 'KGM,' is a 20‑year‑old who began using YouTube at age 6 and Instagram at age 9 and had posted 284 YouTube videos before finishing elementary school; her case is being presented as a template for thousands of other claims.
- Instagram chief Adam Mosseri testified under oath that he does not believe people can be 'clinically addicted' to social media, distinguishing clinical addiction from 'problematic use,' and said he had used the word 'addiction' too casually in an earlier podcast.
- Mosseri defended Instagram’s handling of cosmetic filters and noted Meta shut down all third‑party augmented reality filters in January 2025; courtroom exchanges about body dysmorphia and bereaved parents’ emotional reactions prompted the judge to admonish the public not to display emotional responses during testimony.
- Plaintiffs and outside research presented evidence that Instagram’s recommendation systems continued to surface sexual and self‑harm content to teen accounts despite Meta’s claimed safeguards; Meta argues at trial that individual plaintiffs (including 'Kaley') have mental‑health problems with multiple causes and invokes Section 230 in defending age‑verification and parental‑control design choices.
📰 Source Timeline (5)
Follow how coverage of this story developed over time
February 18, 2026
9:26 PM
Zuckerberg testifies in landmark social media addiction trial
New information:
- Mark Zuckerberg personally testified before the Los Angeles Superior Court jury in the bellwether social‑media addiction case, facing families who allege Meta’s products harmed their children.
- Plaintiffs presented a 2015 internal email in which Zuckerberg set a 2016 goal to increase user time spent on Meta platforms by 12%; he testified that Meta no longer has 'time spent' goals.
- Evidence shown to the jury included a 2015 Meta email estimating about 4 million children under age 13 were using Instagram, and a 2017 document advising Zuckerberg to sound more sympathetic in public remarks about child safety.
- Zuckerberg was questioned about whether his prior statements to Congress downplayed addiction concerns in light of internal documents raising those issues.
- Meta is arguing in court that the plaintiff Kaley’s mental‑health problems stem from multiple factors, disputing that Instagram played a substantial role, while still invoking Section 230 to shield age‑verification and parental‑control design choices.
February 11, 2026
9:37 PM
Instagram chief says he does not believe people can get clinically addicted to social media
New information:
- Adam Mosseri testified that he does not believe people can be 'clinically addicted' to social media, drawing a distinction between clinical addiction and 'problematic use.'
- Plaintiffs’ attorney confronted Mosseri with a past podcast where he used 'addiction' language; he said he had used the term 'too casually' and was not claiming medical expertise.
- Mosseri defended Instagram’s approach to cosmetic filters and said Meta shut down all third‑party augmented reality filters in January 2025, amid courtroom exchanges about body dysmorphia and bereaved parents’ visible reactions.
- The judge admonished members of the public in court not to display emotional reactions during testimony, calling it improper.
- The article recaps outside research showing Instagram’s own systems have recommended sexual and self‑harm content to teen accounts despite Meta’s claimed safety improvements.
9:25 PM
Instagram chief says he does not believe people can get clinically addicted to social media
New information:
- Mosseri testified under oath that he does not believe people can be 'clinically addicted' to social media, drawing a distinction between clinical addiction and what he calls 'problematic use.'
- Plaintiff’s counsel confronted Mosseri with his own earlier podcast comments where he had described social media as 'addictive'; he said he had used the term too casually then and was not speaking as a medical expert.
- Mosseri said Instagram internally uses the term 'problematic use' to describe users spending more time on the app than they feel good about and argued that, long term, it is not good for Meta to profit from harming users’ well‑being.
- He defended Instagram’s approach to cosmetic 'filters' that can alter users’ appearance, saying Meta seeks to be 'as safe as possible but also censor as little as possible,' even as bereaved parents in court reacted emotionally during discussion of body dysmorphia.
- The article notes that Meta shut down all third‑party AR filters in January 2025 and references a prior report showing Instagram’s recommendation systems still served sexual and self‑harm content to teen accounts despite Meta’s claimed safeguards.
February 10, 2026
1:31 AM
Social media giants accused of "addicting the brains of children" as trial begins
New information:
- Plaintiffs’ lead lawyer Mark Lanier framed the case to jurors as 'addicting the brains of children,' calling Meta and Google 'two of the richest corporations in history' that 'engineered addiction in children's brains.'
- Lanier revealed details of Meta’s internal 'Project Myst' study of 1,000 teens and parents, saying Meta concluded traumatized or stressed kids were especially vulnerable to addiction and that parental controls had 'little impact.'
- Internal Google documents likened YouTube to a casino, while internal Meta messages described Instagram as 'like a drug' and employees as 'basically pushers,' and referenced young children as target audiences.
- The lead bellwether plaintiff, a 20‑year‑old identified as 'KGM,' began using YouTube at age 6 and Instagram at age 9 and had posted 284 YouTube videos before finishing elementary school; her case will be presented as the template for thousands of others.