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Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg arrived astatine a Los Angeles tribunal connected Wednesday (February 18, 2026) to attest astatine a groundbreaking societal media addiction trial, wherever Instagram and different platforms are accused of deliberately hooking young users.
The 41-year-old caput of Meta — which owns Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp — is the astir hotly anticipated witnesser successful the California trial, the archetypal successful a bid of cases that could acceptable ineligible precedent for thousands of lawsuits filed by American families against societal media platforms.
The proceedings volition people the archetypal clip the multibillionaire volition code the information of his world-dominating platforms straight earlier a jury.
Mr. Zuckerberg’s arguable estimation has loomed implicit the proceedings since assemblage selection, erstwhile Meta’s lawyers worked to exclude California residents deemed excessively hostile toward the Facebook founder.
The 12 jurors successful Los Angeles volition perceive grounds until precocious March earlier deciding whether Google-owned YouTube and Meta’s Instagram carnivore work for the intelligence wellness problems suffered by Kaley G.M., a 20-year-old California nonmigratory who has been a dense societal media idiosyncratic since childhood.
Kaley G.M. started utilizing YouTube astatine property six, Instagram astatine 11, past TikTok and Snapchat.
The proceedings volition find whether Google and Meta deliberately designed their platforms to promote compulsive usage among young people, damaging their intelligence wellness successful the process.
The case, on with 2 akin trials scheduled successful Los Angeles this summer, aims to found a modular for resolving thousands of lawsuits that blasted societal media for fueling an epidemic of depression, anxiety, eating disorders and decease among young people.
The proceedings absorption solely connected app design, algorithms and personalisation features, since U.S. instrumentality grants platforms astir implicit immunity from liability implicit user-generated content.
TikTok and Snapchat, besides named successful the complaint, reached confidential settlements with the plaintiff earlier the proceedings began.
‘Problematic use’
Instagram main Adam Mosseri was the archetypal Silicon Valley enforcement to attest connected February 11, successful which helium told jurors helium rejected the conception of societal media addiction successful favour of “problematic use” — Meta’s preferred terminology.
“I’m definite I’ve said that I was addicted to a Netflix amusement erstwhile I binged it truly precocious 1 night, but I don’t deliberation that’s the aforesaid happening arsenic objective addiction,” Mr. Mosseri said.
In the courtroom gallery, mothers whose teenage children had died visibly struggled to incorporate their anger. They had camped overnight successful the rainfall extracurricular the courthouse to unafraid seats.
The time before, the plaintiff’s lawyers called psychiatrist Anna Lembke to explicate however societal media tin enactment arsenic a “gateway drug” for young people, rewiring their still-developing brains toward addictive behaviors.
When confronted with interior email exchanges, Mr. Mosseri defended Mr. Zuckerberg’s 2020 determination to let cosmetic country filters connected Instagram, contempt beardown objections from different executives who warned of their harmful effects connected young girls.
Some executives had pushed to reinstate the filters — which amusement users however cosmetic procedures would look — to debar losing marketplace stock amid increasing contention from TikTok.
YouTube CEO Neal Mohan was besides scheduled to testify, but lawyers for the plaintiff connected Tuesday (February 17, 2026) said they would telephone different YouTube enforcement instead.
The Los Angeles proceedings are moving parallel to a akin nationwide lawsuit earlier a national justice successful Oakland, California, which could effect successful different proceedings successful 2026.
Meta is besides facing proceedings this period successful New Mexico, wherever prosecutors impeach the institution of prioritising profits implicit protecting minors from intersexual predators.
