Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg expressed regret Wednesday over the company’s slow progress in identifying underage users on Instagram, as he faced intense scrutiny at a landmark California trial alleging that his platforms deliberately hooked children.
Asked about internal complaints that Meta had done too little to prevent children under 13 from joining Instagram, the 41-year-old founder, whose company also owns Facebook and WhatsApp acknowledged improvements had been made but said, “I always wish that we could have gotten there sooner.”
Zuckerberg was the most anticipated witness in the trial, the first in a series of lawsuits filed by American families against social media companies. It marked the first time the multibillionaire addressed the safety of his platforms directly before a jury and under oath.
An AFP journalist in the courtroom reported that Zuckerberg appeared initially reserved, but grew animated over time, shaking his head, waving his hands, and turning toward the jury. Plaintiff lawyer Mark Lanier pressed him on age verification and the company’s philosophy for decision-making, while Zuckerberg, during questioning by his own attorneys, described social media use as a “side effect” of a quality experience and often spoke directly to jurors to underscore his points.
Zuckerberg emphasized that Apple and Google which provide the operating systems for most smartphones should implement age verification at the device level rather thanleaving it to each app. “Doing it at the level of the phone is just a lot clearer than having every single app out there have to do this separately,” he said.
During testimony, Zuckerberg faced internal emails showing that age verification measures were inadequate and that increasing time spent on Instagram had long been a key company goal.
He was confronted with an internal 2015 document showing that Instagram had four million users under 13 including a significant portion of US “tweens” aged 10 to 12, the age when the plaintiff, Kaley G.M., first joined the platform. Zuckerberg told the court, “We’re in the right place now” regarding age verification.
Lanier argued that young users like Kaley were deliberately exposed to features encouraging prolonged use, despite Zuckerberg’s prior congressional testimony denying such goals. Zuckerberg acknowledged, “We used to have goals around time,” but insisted the company’s intention was always to “build useful services” that connected people.
He was also shown an email from former head of public policy Nick Clegg stating, “The fact that we say we don’t allow under-13s on our platform, yet have no way of enforcing it, is just indefensible.”
The case, expected to last until late March, will decide whether Meta — along with Google-owned YouTube — bears responsibility for mental health problems suffered by Kaley, 20, who began using YouTube at age six, Instagram at nine, and later TikTok and Snapchat. TikTok and Snapchat, also named in the complaint, settled before the trial began.
The outcome could set a precedent for thousands of lawsuits alleging that social media contributes to an epidemic of depression, anxiety, eating disorders, and suicide among young users.
AFP
