Santa Fe, New Mexico — Jurors in a groundbreaking trial into the effects of social media on teens and children on Wednesday watched testimony from Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg exploring what Facebook and Instagram engineers knew from internal research about young users’ negative experiences and how the company has responded since its early years.
Prosecutors allege that Meta violated state consumer protection laws when it failed to disclose what it knew about… Dangers of addiction to social media In addition to child sexual exploitation on the company’s platforms, while Meta’s lawyers say the company discloses risks, makes efforts to weed out harmful content and experiences, and acknowledges that some bad material still passes through its safety net.
In pretrial depositions recorded last year, prosecutors confronted Zuckerberg with internal company communications and emails from platform users dating back to Facebook’s infancy in 2008 that discussed “problematic” and addictive use of social media.
“Over the past 15 years, users of your products have repeatedly told your company and personally that they find the products addictive, and that’s true, isn’t it?” New Mexico state attorney Brevin Warren told Zuckerberg:
Zuckerberg took issue with the word “addiction.”
“I think people sometimes use that word colloquially. That’s not what we’re trying to do with products, and that’s not how I think they work,” he said.
Meanwhile, Zuckerberg said he wants to “make sure we can understand so we can improve products and make them better for people in the ways they want.”
Zuckerberg went on to admit that he initially set goals for employees to increase the amount of time teens spent on his platform amid efforts to expand the business’ revenue and the number of platform users.
“Yes, I think we focused on time spent as one of the main engagement goals,” Zuckerberg said. “At some point during 2017 and beyond — at this point over most of the last 10 years — we focused on other metrics.”
The filing also addressed Zuckerberg’s decision to lift Instagram’s temporary ban on the use of cosmetic filters that changed people’s appearance in a way that appeared to promote plastic surgery.
“I care a lot about not cracking down on the ways people can express themselves, and there’s always been a lot of pressure to do that and censor our services,” Zuckerberg said. “I haven’t found any of the anecdotal examples that people used to be convinced are clear evidence that this would be harmful.”
The plea was recorded last year and was played on Wednesday during the fourth week of the civil trial against Meta, which also oversees WhatsApp.
On Tuesday, a New Mexico jury watched a video in which prosecutors peppered Instagram chief Adam Mosseri with questions about Meta’s approach to safety, corporate profits and social media features. They also asked him about policies regarding young users who may contribute to unwanted communications with adults.
The New Mexico case and a separate trial taking place in Los Angeles could set the tone for thousands of similar lawsuits against social media companies.
Zuckerberg testified last month in Los Angeles About young people’s use of Instagram Questions have been answered by Congress on Youth Safety On meta platforms.
During his testimony before Congress in 2024, he apologized to families whose lives were turned upside down by tragedies they believed social media caused. But while he told his parents he was “sorry for everything you went through,” he stopped short of taking direct responsibility for it.