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LOS ANGELES (AP) \u2014\u00a0Mark Zuckerberg\u00a0and opposing lawyers dueled in a Los Angeles courtroom on Wednesday, where the Meta CEO answered questions about young people\u2019s use of Instagram, his congressional testimony and internal advice he\u2019s received about being \u201cauthentic\u201d and not \u201crobotic.\u201d<\/p>\n
Zuckerberg\u2019s testimony is part of an\u00a0unprecedented social media trial\u00a0that questions whether Meta\u2019s platforms deliberately addict and harm children.<\/p>\n
As of early afternoon, Zuckerberg has not directly answered the central question of the case: whether Instagram is addictive. The plaintiff\u2019s attorney, Mark Lanier, asked if people tend to use something more if it\u2019s addictive.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m not sure what to say to that,\u201d Zuckerberg said. \u201cI don\u2019t think that applies here.\u201d<\/p>\n
Attorneys representing the plaintiff, a now 20-year-old woman identified by the initials KGM, claim her early use of social media addicted her to the technology and exacerbated depression and suicidal thoughts. Meta Platforms and Google\u2019s YouTube are the two remaining defendants in the case, which\u00a0TikTok and Snap have settled.<\/p>\n
Beginning his questioning, Lanier laid out three options of what people can do regarding vulnerable people: help them, ignore them, or \u201cprey upon them and use them for our own ends.\u201d Zuckerberg said he agrees the last option is not what a reasonable company should do, saying, \u201cI think a reasonable company should try to help the people that use its services.\u201d<\/p>\n
When he was asked about his compensation, Zuckerberg said he has pledged to give \u201calmost all\u201d of his money to charity, focusing on scientific research. Lanier asked him how much money he has pledged to victims impacted by social media, to which Zuckerberg replied, \u201cI disagree with the characterization of your question.\u201d<\/p>\n
Lanier questioned the Meta CEO extensively about a comment he made during a\u00a0past congressional hearing, where he said Instagram employees are not given goals to increase amount of time people spent on the platform.<\/p>\n
Lanier presented internal documents that seemed to contradict that statement. Zuckerberg replied that they previously had goals associated with time, but said he and the company made the conscious decision to move away from those goals, focusing instead on utility. He said he believes in the \u201cbasic assumption\u201d that \u201cif something is valuable, people will use it more because it\u2019s useful to them.\u201d<\/p>\n
Lanier also asked Zuckerberg about what he characterized as extensive media training, including for testimonies like the one he was giving in court. Lanier pointed to an internal document about feedback on Zuckerberg\u2019s tone of voice on his own social media, imploring him to come off as \u201cauthentic, direct, human, insightful and real,\u201d and instructing him to \u201cnot try hard, fake, robotic, corporate or cheesy\u201d in his communication.<\/p>\n
Zuckerberg pushed back against the idea that he\u2019s been coached on how to respond to questions or present himself, saying those offering the advice were \u201cjust giving feedback.\u201d<\/p>\n
Regarding his media appearances and public speaking, Zuckerberg said, \u201cI think I\u2019m actually well known to be sort of bad at this.\u201d<\/p>\n
The Meta CEO has long been mocked online for appearing robotic and, when he was younger, nervous when speaking publicly. In 2010, during an interview with renowned tech journalists Kara Swisher and Walt Mossberg, he was sweating so profusely that Swisher asked him if he wanted to \u201ctake off the hoodie\u201d that was his uniform at the time.<\/p>\n
Lanier spent a considerable stretch of his limited time with Zuckerberg asking about the company\u2019s age verification policies.<\/p>\n
\u201cI don\u2019t see why this is so complicated,\u201d Zuckerberg said after a lengthy back-and-forth, reiterating that the company\u2019s policy restricts users under the age of 13 and that they work to detect users who have lied about their ages to bypass restrictions.<\/p>\n
Zuckerberg mostly stuck to his talking points, referencing his goal of building a platform that is valuable to users and, on multiple occasions, saying he disagreed with Lanier\u2019s \u201ccharacterization\u201d of his questions or of Zuckerberg\u2019s own comments.<\/p>\n
Zuckerberg has testified in other trials and answered questions from\u00a0Congress about youth safety\u00a0on Meta\u2019s platforms. During his 2024 congressional testimony, he apologized to families whose lives had been upended by tragedies they believed were caused by social media. But while he told parents he was \u201csorry for everything you have all been through,\u201d he stopped short of taking direct responsibility for it. This trial marks the first time Zuckerberg stands before a jury. Once again, bereaved parents are sitting in the courtroom audience.<\/p>\n
The case, along with two others, has been selected as a bellwether trial, meaning its outcome could impact how thousands of similar lawsuits against social media companies are likely to play out.<\/p>\n
A Meta spokesperson said the company strongly disagrees with the allegations in the lawsuit and said they are \u201cconfident the evidence will show our longstanding commitment to supporting young people.\u201d<\/p>\n
One of Meta\u2019s attorneys, Paul Schmidt, said in his opening statement that the company is not disputing that KGM experienced mental health struggles, but rather disputing that Instagram played a substantial factor in those struggles. He pointed to medical records that showed a turbulent home life, and both he and an attorney representing YouTube argue she turned to their platforms as a coping mechanism or a means of escaping her mental health struggles.<\/p>\n
Zuckerberg\u2019s testimony comes a week after that of\u00a0Adam Mosseri, the head of Meta\u2019s Instagram, who said in the courtroom that he disagrees with the idea that people can be clinically addicted to social media platforms. Mosseri maintained that Instagram works hard to protect young people using the service, and said it\u2019s \u201cnot good for the company, over the long run, to make decisions that profit for us but are poor for people\u2019s well-being.\u201d<\/p>\n
Much of Mosseri\u2019s questioning from the plaintiff\u2019s lawyer centered on cosmetic filters on Instagram that changed people\u2019s appearance \u2014 a topic that Lanier is sure to revisit with Zuckerberg. He is also expected to face questions about Instagram\u2019s algorithm, the infinite nature of Meta\u2019s feeds and other features the plaintiffs argue are designed to get users hooked.<\/p>\n
Meta is also facing a separate\u00a0trial in New Mexico\u00a0that began last week.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
#Meta #CEO #Mark #Zuckerberg #testified #landmark #trial #social #media #addiction #claims<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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