Zuckerberg grilled about Meta's strategy to target 'teens' and 'tweens'

[ad_1] <img src="https://npr.brightspotcdn.com/dims3/default/strip/false/crop/6877x4585+0+0/resize/1100/quality/50/format/jpeg/?url=http%3A%2F%2Fnpr-brightspot.s3.amazonaws.com%2Feb%2F57%2F693cbde84081a3c731c2855ddd22%2Fgettyimages-2261796918.jpg" data-template="https://npr.brightspotcdn.com/dims3/default/strip/false/crop/6877x4585+0+0/resize/{width}/quality/{quality}/format/{format}/?url=http%3A%2F%2Fnpr-brightspot.s3.amazonaws.com%2Feb%2F57%2F693cbde84081a3c731c2855ddd22%2Fgettyimages-2261796918.jpg" class="img" alt="Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg arrives at the Los Angeles Superior Court ahead of the social media trial tasked to determine whether social media giants deliberately designed their platforms to be addictive to children on Feb. 18, 2026. Zuckerberg is scheduled to testify Wednesday." fetchpriority="high"/> Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg arrives on the Los Angeles Superior Courtroom forward of the social media trial tasked to find out whether or not social media giants intentionally designed their platforms to be addictive to kids on Feb. 18, 2026. Zuckerberg is scheduled to testify Wednesday. Frederic J. Brown/AFP by way of Getty Photos disguise caption

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Frederic J. Brown/AFP by way of Getty Photos Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg was clearly getting testy.

"That is not what I am saying in any respect," stated the tech billionaire. "I feel you are misunderstanding what I am saying," Zuckerberg responded. "You are mischaracterizing what I am saying," he shot again.

The manager was testifying on Wednesday earlier than a jury in Los Angeles in a marquee social media trial accusing Meta of intentionally designing options of Instagram to addict kids, and the authorized group for the household suing was intent on displaying that Zuckerberg's fingerprints have been everywhere in the firm's huge selections.

Mark Lanier, a Texas trial lawyer and pastor with a folksy courtroom demeanor, directed Zuckerberg's consideration to a 2020 inside Meta doc displaying that 11-year-olds have been 4 occasions as more likely to preserve coming again to Fb, in comparison with older customers. Instagram's minimal age for signing up is 13.

"Individuals who be a part of Fb at 11 years previous? Lanier requested Zuckerberg. "I believed y'all did not have any of these?"

Zuckerberg did admit that many customers lie about their age to get on Instagram. Imposing age restrict guidelines, he stated, may be "very tough."

Lanier then argued that not solely did Instagram know there have been customers below 13, however the firm aggressively sought to recruit them to the platform.

One Meta doc from 2015 confirmed how an estimated 30% of 10- to 12-year-olds within the U.S. have been utilizing Instagram. The corporate had a objective to extend the time 10-year-olds spend on Instagram, one other doc confirmed.

"I do not bear in mind the context of this e mail from greater than ten years in the past," Zuckerberg stated. "I feel the way in which we should always construct issues is to construct helpful companies for folks to attach with their household and buddies and study in regards to the world."

One 2018 inside Meta doc said "If we wanna win huge with teenagers, we should carry them in as tweens," Lanier identified, saying that undercut Meta's personal insurance policies.

The authorized group representing the plaintiff, a 20-year-old California lady identified in courtroom paperwork as "Kaley," tried to display that the top-down objective of Meta has at all times been to encourage customers to get on their platforms as younger as doable, and as soon as there, to determine methods to maintain them round. Usually options like "magnificence filters," made the app extra alluring, Lanier argued.

When the corporate employed specialists who affirmed that such appearance-enhancing filters contributed to body-image points amongst younger ladies, Zuckerberg wouldn't dispense with the filters instruments, calling eliminating them "paternalistic."

Below questioning in courtroom, the billionaire Fb founder responded: "What we allowed was letting folks use these filters in the event that they wished however deciding to not advocate them to folks," he stated. "In order that was the stability we got here to to let folks specific themselves the way in which they need."

Kaley, who's additionally recognized as KGM in courtroom paperwork, typically used these filters, which her lawsuit says contributed to physique dysmorphia and different psychological well being points.

Had Zuckerberg checked out Kaley's Instagram posts earlier than the trial, Lanier requested? His workers had proven him some, he responded.

<img src="https://npr.brightspotcdn.com/dims3/default/strip/false/crop/8192x5464+0+0/resize/1100/quality/50/format/jpeg/?url=http%3A%2F%2Fnpr-brightspot.s3.amazonaws.com%2Ff6%2F5d%2F67f3c21b415492eb97e66adad04b%2Fgettyimages-2261804688.jpg" data-template="https://npr.brightspotcdn.com/dims3/default/strip/false/crop/8192x5464+0+0/resize/{width}/quality/{quality}/format/{format}/?url=http%3A%2F%2Fnpr-brightspot.s3.amazonaws.com%2Ff6%2F5d%2F67f3c21b415492eb97e66adad04b%2Fgettyimages-2261804688.jpg" class="img" alt="Files are brought inside the Los Angeles Superior Court on Feb 18, 2026 as part of a major trial involving Meta and Google over whether their products harm young people." loading="lazy"/> Information are introduced contained in the Los Angeles Superior Courtroom on Feb 18, 2026 as a part of a serious trial involving Meta and Google over whether or not their merchandise hurt younger folks. Jill Connelly/Getty Photos disguise caption

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Jill Connelly/Getty Photos That is when Lanier, who is thought for orchestrating spectacles at trial, had six attorneys unspool a 35-foot-wide collage of a whole lot of selfies that Kaley posted to Instagram.

Lanier implored Zuckerberg to dwell on the posts. Was her account ever seemed into for this a lot use as a toddler? The Meta chief govt didn't say, as Kaley herself peered on from the courtroom gallery.

When it was time for Meta's lawyer, Paul Schmidt, to ask Zuckerberg questions, he lobbed them softer and extra gently. That, in flip, made Zuckerberg ease up a bit.

Zuckerberg stated there is a false impression that the extra consideration the corporate captures, and the extra time folks spend on its apps, the higher it's for Meta's backside line, no matter harms they could encounter.

"But when folks really feel like they are not having a great expertise, why would they preserve utilizing the product?" Zuckerberg stated.

Protecting customers secure, particularly teen customers, has at all times been a precedence, Zuckerberg stated.

"Questions on well-being I take into account a part of this for positive," he stated. "For those who construct a group and other people do not feel secure, that is not sustainable and finally folks go and be a part of one other group."

1,600 different plaintiffs The looks of Zuckerberg, the star witness of the trial, got here within the second week of what is anticipated to be a six-week continuing. Different tech executives, social media specialists, habit specialists and others have additionally testified.

Kaley, the plaintiff, is predicted to ship essentially the most emotional testimony later within the trial. Her lawsuit claims she started utilizing social media at age 6, together with YouTube, Instagram, TikTok and Snap. After turning into hooked on the platforms, she stated her physique picture points, despair and suicidal ideas worsened. The go well with factors to options like magnificence filters, infinite scroll and auto-play as being tantamount to a "digital on line casino." Proof of the harms of those options have been hid from the general public, the lawsuit says.

<img src="https://npr.brightspotcdn.com/dims3/default/strip/false/crop/8192x5464+0+0/resize/1100/quality/50/format/jpeg/?url=http%3A%2F%2Fnpr-brightspot.s3.amazonaws.com%2F4e%2Fc0%2Fba7605de4ae68d52896751bf3d36%2Fgettyimages-2261820228.jpg" data-template="https://npr.brightspotcdn.com/dims3/default/strip/false/crop/8192x5464+0+0/resize/{width}/quality/{quality}/format/{format}/?url=http%3A%2F%2Fnpr-brightspot.s3.amazonaws.com%2F4e%2Fc0%2Fba7605de4ae68d52896751bf3d36%2Fgettyimages-2261820228.jpg" class="img" alt="Julianna Arnold, whose daughter died from fentanyl she bought from someone on Instagram, talks about watching Mark Zuckerberg testify outside the Los Angeles Superior Court on Feb. 18, 2026." loading="lazy"/> Julianna Arnold, whose daughter died from fentanyl she purchased from somebody on Instagram, talks about watching Mark Zuckerberg testify outdoors the Los Angeles Superior Courtroom on Feb. 18, 2026. Jill Connelly/Getty Photos disguise caption

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Jill Connelly/Getty Photos In response, Meta and Google, which owns YouTube, have stated the accusations over-simplify the complexity of adolescent psychological well being points. The businesses argue social media use doesn't straight trigger younger folks to be mentally unwell, in order that they shouldn't be held legally chargeable for a person's psychological well being struggles.

Kaley's authorized group known as professional witnesses who described a number of research linking common social media use with worsening despair, anxiousness and physique picture points.

The jury will decide to what diploma social media platforms ought to be held legally culpable for plaintiff Kaley's struggles. The trial is a bellwether case tied to 1,600 related fits filed by households and college districts. How the jury decides is predicted to affect settlement talks in all these pending instances.

Whereas debates about social media habit have raged for many years, it has taken till now for a serious trial on the difficulty to unfold largely as a result of a federal authorized defend that has protected Silicon Valley. A regulation often known as Part 230 of the 1996 Communications Decency Act has allowed tech corporations to fend off lawsuits over what customers submit to their websites. Social media companies have additionally received authorized battles, together with a key Supreme Courtroom case, which have discovered how corporations curate content material on platforms is a kind of protected free speech.

Regardless of these protections, the plaintiff's attorneys within the Los Angeles case discovered a technique to legally assault tech giants: by treating social media apps as unsafe merchandise, viewing Instagram, YouTube and different companies as faulty below product legal responsibility regulation. The argument is that tech corporations intentionally designed social media websites as dangerous and dismissed inside warnings that the companies may very well be problematic for youngsters.

The jury will in the end should assess Zuckerberg's credibility, which was below assault on Wednesday.

Lanier, Kaley's lawyer, introduced up an inside doc displaying how Meta communications staffers have pushed Zuckerberg to painting himself as extra "human" and "relatable," and "empathetic, and fewer "pretend," and "company," and "tacky."

When questioned about his efficiency in varied different public settings, whether or not in courtrooms or earlier than Congress, Zuckerberg confirmed some humility.