Instagram head expected to testify in Meta trial
Instagram head Adam Mosseri is expected to testify Tuesday in the latest high-profile social media addiction trial against Meta, Instagram's parent company, in federal court in Oakland, California.
Several state attorneys general are suing Meta, claiming the tech giant designed its social media platforms, which include Instagram, Facebook, and WhatsApp, to engage children and get them addicted to using them, while misleading users about the safety of the apps.
Meta has pushed back on the claims, calling them "unsubstantiated.”
"The State AGs may call this a landmark case, but their limited claims are unsubstantiated and their financial demands are vastly disproportionate," a Meta spokesperson said previously, in a statement to ABC News. "The AGs offer no proof anyone in their states was misled, claim benign features like having an additional Instagram account somehow harmed their residents, and attempt to penalize Meta for industry-wide challenges like age verification."
"Rather than sticking to the facts or the law, the states have instead decided to chase an outlandish payout," the spokesperson continued. "We stand by our record of creating strong protections for teens, and look forward to making our case in court."
The lawsuit was first filed by a bipartisan coalition of 29 state attorneys general against Meta in October 2023 in the Northern District of California. Four state attorneys general of California, Colorado, New Jersey and Kentucky, are representing the case and presenting arguments in court. Opening statements in the case began last week.
Meta claims damages in this case could reach $1.4 trillion.
Mosseri has been the head of Instagram since 2018 and oversees the platform’s design and engineering teams.
He testified earlier this year in another trial, brought in the California Superior Court of Los Angeles County, that alleged Meta and YouTube, which is owned by Google, had designed their apps and platforms with specific features intended to be addicting for young users. That case centered around a 20-year-old plaintiff named Kaley, whose lawyers said she became addicted to social media apps starting at age 6, which ultimately led to her developing mental health and body image issues.
At the time, Mosseri testified that he disagreed with the term "addiction" as used in the lawsuit and said "clinical addiction" is different from "problematic use" of Instagram, which he described as users spending "too much time" on the platform.
Mosseri also testified that there is a tradeoff between "safety and speech" and pointed to users who dislike when Instagram features are removed or changed.
A jury decided in May that Meta and YouTube were negligent for designing apps that harmed kids and teens and failed to warn them about the dangers, awarding Kaley and her mother $6 million in damages. Meta and YouTube both said they disagreed with the verdict and would appeal the decision afterward.
