Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg was pressed for answers in a Los Angeles courtroom as a youth social media addiction case probed how far Meta went in shaping young users’ behaviour on Wednesday.
He repeated that Facebook and Instagram do not permit children under 13 years of age, though the plaintiff’s lawyer put internal documents in front of him that pointed the other way.
Mark Lanier, representing a California woman who began using Instagram and YouTube as a child, challenged Zuckerberg’s 2024 assurances to Congress that users under the age of 13-years old were blocked.
The lawyer read from Meta’s own files while the courtroom watched the exchange.
The woman alleges Instagram and YouTube contributed to her depression and suicidal thoughts, and that both companies pushed products to children despite knowing the risks.
Meta and Google deny the claims.
"If we want to win big with teens, we must bring them in as tweens," one 2018 internal Instagram presentation said.
"And yet you say that we would never do that," Lanier told him.
Zuckerberg said the lawyer was "mischaracterising what I am saying." He added that Meta had explored ideas for versions of its apps for under 13-years but never released them, describing those discussions as attempts to find safer design options rather than recruit children.
The case is part of a growing wave of lawsuits accusing major platforms of harming young people, with Snap and TikTok already settling before the trial began.
In newly surfaced correspondence, Nick Clegg, then Meta’s vice president of global affairs, warned Zuckerberg that "we have age limits which are unenforced" and pointed to inconsistent rules across Instagram and Facebook.
He wrote that such gaps made it "difficult to claim we are doing all we can."
Zuckerberg replied that verifying a user’s age is difficult for any software platform and said responsibility should shift toward mobile device makers.
Zuckerberg also faced pressure over comments he previously made to Congress claiming he did not direct Instagram teams to maximise time spent on the app.
Lanier introduced older emails from 2014 and 2015 in which Zuckerberg called for raising engagement by double-digit percentages.
He acknowledged Meta had once used time-spent targets but insisted the company later changed its approach.
"If you are trying to say my testimony was not accurate, I strongly disagree with that," he said.
It was Zuckerberg’s first time testifying in court on Instagram’s impact on youth mental health. Meta’s lawyers were scheduled to question him later in the day.
The lawsuit sits at the front of a much larger legal push involving thousands of cases filed by families, school districts and states.
They argue the platforms fuelled a youth mental-health crisis and say "big tech" companies should be held accountable.
A verdict against Meta and Google could erode some of the legal protections the companies have relied on for years.
Investigative reporting has previously shown Meta was aware of concerns internally.
Reuters reports that company researchers found that some teens said Instagram made them feel worse about their bodies, and that these teens saw more "eating disorder adjacent content" than others.
Adam Mosseri, Head of Instagram, told the court last week he was unaware of a recent internal study shown at trial that found no link between parental supervision and teens’ attentiveness to their own social-media use.
Teenagers facing difficult circumstances were more likely to use Instagram habitually or unintentionally, the document said.
Meta’s lawyer argued that the plaintiff’s difficulties stemmed from a troubled childhood and said Instagram was often an outlet for creativity.
Australia now bars anyone under 16 from accessing social-media platforms. Other governments are weighing similar steps.
Florida has banned platforms from allowing users under 14-years, though industry groups are challenging the measure in court.
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China has ordered Meta to unwind its more than $2 billion acquisition of artificial intelligence start-up Manus, marking a major escalation in Beijing’s scrutiny of foreign investment in sensitive technology sectors. The order was issued on Monday by the National Development and Reform Commission.
Meta, which owns Facebook and Instagram, said it's installing software on its employees computers to capture keystrokes and mouse movements to use to train its artificial intelligence (AI) agent models.
Meta Platforms will cut about 10% of its global workforce from 20 May, marking the start of a wider restructuring as the company increases spending on artificial intelligence (AI) and plans further layoffs later this year, according to sources familiar with the matter.
A New Mexico jury on Tuesday found Meta Platforms violated state law in a lawsuit brought by the state attorney general, who accused the company of misleading users about the safety of Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp and of enabling child sexual exploitation on those platforms.
At least thirteen people have died and sixty-six have been injured following an explosion at Qatar's main liquefied natural gas (LNG) processing hub at Ras Laffan, authorities said on Sunday.
Cape Verde’s remarkable FIFA World Cup debut continued on Sunday (21 June) as the tournament newcomers held Uruguay to a 2-2 draw. Goalkeeper Vozinha was once again at the centre of the story, this time with his mother watching from the stands.
Tehran has agreed to let the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) recommence inspections of its nuclear programme, U.S. Vice President JD Vance has said. The U.S. and Iran have settled on a 60-day roadmap aimed at reaching a final deal, according to mediators Qatar and Pakistan.
Armenia and Azerbaijan have agreed on a landmark internet deal that will allow traffic to pass through Azerbaijani networks.It's the latest deal to highlight the ongoing peace process between the two countries.
Three students have been killed and at least seven injured after two of their peers opened fire in a high school in the Philippines, police said. A spokesperson for the police said the two suspects, aged 14 and 15, had been arrested and a police pistol confiscated. Bullying is a possible motive.
South Korea has announced it will accept North Korean prisoners of war captured by Ukrainian forces while fighting for Russia if they wish to relocate to the South, citing international law and opposition to forced repatriation.
A Ukrainian strike has damaged a school building in a Russian-controlled area of Ukraine’s Zaporizhzhia region, according to local authorities cited by the TASS news agency. No injuries were reported in the incident.
Authorities in France are reporting that about 20 people have died over the weekend while swimming in unsupervised areas of rivers, lakes and coastal waters as they tried to escape the heatwave.
A shooting in Montreal, Canada has left three people dead, including a police officer, a civilian and the suspected attacker, police said.
Attendees at undeclared free parties in France could face on-the-spot fines of €1,500 ($1,713) or up to six months in prison under proposed new legislation currently being reviewed by the French National Assembly.
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