Overview
- Testifying in Los Angeles, Mark Zuckerberg rejected claims that Meta targets children or designs Instagram to addict them, even as lawyers showed internal discussions about courting “tweens” and past goals to lift teen engagement time to 40 minutes in 2023 and 46 minutes in 2026.
- He defended decisions such as reversing a ban on beauty filters as a free‑expression judgment, argued that evidence of harm must clear a high bar, and said the concept of clinical addiction does not apply to social media use.
- Zuckerberg maintained that users under 13 are prohibited but often misstate their age, and he urged that age verification be handled by app stores and device makers rather than individual apps.
- Judge Carolyn B. Kuhl reprimanded members of Zuckerberg’s entourage for wearing camera‑enabled Meta glasses in the no‑recording courtroom and warned of contempt if any recordings were made.
- TikTok and Snap settled before trial, leaving Meta and YouTube to face the jury as the plaintiff known as KGM alleges design‑driven harms in a bellwether seen as a test of product‑design liability and potential limits on Section 230.