Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg arrives for a landmark trial over whether social media platforms deliberately addict and harm children.Ryan Sun/The Associated Press
Mark Zuckerberg testified in front of a packed Los Angeles courtroom Wednesday, defending the social-media company he founded from a lawsuit that blames his products for harms to young people.
It was the first time Mr. Zuckerberg – the founder of Meta, the world’s largest social-media company and owner of Facebook and Instagram – had appeared before a jury in a civil case.
Mr. Zuckerberg sat still on the witness stand through the morning and afternoon and spoke in a measured voice in testimony that garnered international attention. The case lands in the courtroom after widespread scrutiny and increasing alarm in numerous countries over the negatives of social media, as well as legislative attempts to regulate such products and outright ban them for children.
The lawsuit was brought by a 20-year-old Californian known as K.G.M., who accuses Meta, as well as YouTube owner Google, of intentionally designing products to be addictive. The lawsuit alleges that compulsive use of those products is harmful to young people.
The trial at the L.A. County Superior Court before Judge Carolyn Kuhl is considered a bellwether case. Its result will determine the course of what could happen with hundreds of similar pending lawsuits against the social media companies.
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Nearly half the world’s population, about 3.6 billion people, use a Meta product every day.
But proving a direct link between social media and personal harm could be difficult. Meta and Google reject the accusations.
“We’re building this thing to be a good thing,” Mr. Zuckerberg said of Meta’s products as he was questioned by Meta lawyer Paul Schmidt.
A dozen jurors heard K.G.M. first started using Instagram when she was nine years old in the mid-2010s. Meta’s restrictions against children younger than 13 on Instagram didn’t begin until several years later. K.G.M. alleges that her use of social media became an addiction and led to depression and anxiety, alongside body dysmorphia – an unhealthy preoccupation with perceived flaws in one’s appearance.
At one point, K.G.M.’s lawyer, Mark Lanier, unfurled a large banner displaying years of his client’s posts on Instagram in front of Mr. Zuckerberg. It was held up by five people.
A courtroom sketch of Mr. Zuckerberg. Mr. Zuckerberg testified it is 'extremely difficult' for internet companies to determine and verify the age of younger people.William T. Robles/The Associated Press
Mr. Zuckerberg acknowledged he had seen only some of K.G.M.’s posts.
“No, I didn’t look at every single photo,” said Mr. Zuckerberg.
The trial, in its second week, is set to stretch toward the end of March. A verdict against Meta would represent a historical shift after decades of such companies operating with free rein, largely unencumbered by regulations or held responsible for what takes place on their services.
Mr. Zuckerberg, 41, is the world’s fifth-richest person worth an estimated US$220-billion. People lined up early outside the L.A. courthouse. Television crews started broadcasting live before daybreak. Among the several dozen who made it into the courtroom where space was strictly limited were parents whose children died by suicide after struggles on social media. They blame Meta.
At the same time, in a trial in New Mexico, Meta is accused of failing to protect children on its services from sexual exploitation. And a trial in Oakland in the U.S. District Court of Northern California, where school boards have sued social-media companies over harm to teenagers’ mental health, begins in June.
Meta Platforms CEO Mark Zuckerberg on Wednesday repeatedly said during a landmark trial over youth social media addiction that the Facebook and Instagram operator does not allow kids under 13 on its platforms, despite being confronted with evidence suggesting they were a key demographic.
Reuters
On Wednesday, the plaintiff’s lawyer, Mr. Lanier, sought to show Meta worked to attract children to its services. He cited internal Meta documents from the mid-2010s that tallied Instagram users and included several million preteens, about a third of all those in the U.S. in that age group.
Beauty filters – allowing people to change their look in pictures on Instagram – were discussed in detail. Mr. Lanier pointed to some experts who had warned Mr. Zuckerberg that such filters present body-image risks to teenage girls.
Mr. Zuckerberg recalled those warnings but cited a wider discussion that included freedom of expression and user choice.
“Oftentimes telling people they can’t express themselves in ways like that feels a little overbearing,” he said.
Later, under questioning from Meta’s lawyer, Mr. Zuckerberg said he felt a high bar was required for evidence of harm before limiting people’s ability to express themselves.
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Mr. Lanier suggested to Mr. Zuckerberg that Meta’s drive to encourage people to spend more time on the company’s products could include making such services addictive in nature.
“I’m not sure what to say to that,” said Mr. Zuckerberg. “I don’t think that applies here.”
Mr. Lanier, at the start of the day, questioned whether Meta had been adequately careful about some of the people who use its products. Vulnerable people could be helped, ignored or preyed upon, the lawyer suggested.
Mr. Zuckerberg responded: “A reasonable company should try to help the people that use its services.”
Jurors also heard of a company e-mail in 2019 sent to Mr. Zuckerberg that stated the company’s minimum-age rules were “unenforced and unenforceable.”
Mr. Zuckerberg testified it is “extremely difficult” for internet companies to determine and verify the age of younger people.
In the last seven years, the Meta CEO has become accustomed to barrages of questions under oath, often during hearings before the United States Congress and a few times in court.
Under such spotlights, his appearances have improved, a trajectory noted last year when he testified in court to defend Meta against federal government allegations of anti-competitive actions – a case the company won late last year.
Early on Wednesday morning, Mr. Lanier pushed Mr. Zuckerberg on his media training.
“I think I’m well known to be very bad at this,” Mr. Zuckerberg said.