WASHINGTON (TNND) — Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg will once again face grieving families on Wednesday when he testifies in a landmark social media addiction trial in Los Angeles.
A now 20-year-old identified as “Kaley” and her mother allege that Meta and YouTube designed addictive algorithms that damaged her mental health when she began using them as a young child. Leading to depression and self-harm.
These features are ones that are specifically designed to get into a pre-teen or teen brain and give dopamine hits in such a way that they become as addictive as cigarettes, as opiates, as any addiction may be,” Mark Lanier, the attorney representing the plaintiff in this case, told CNN in January.
A Meta spokesperson strongly disagreed with the allegations, telling CNN they’re “confident the evidence will show our longstanding commitment to supporting young people.” Zuckerberg is among those scheduled to testify Wednesday, just over two years after apologizing to grieving families, who claimed social media contributed to their children’s deaths, during a fiery Senate hearing on Capitol Hill.
There are families of victims here today. Have you apologized to the victims? Would you like to do so now?” Sen. Josh Hawley,R-Miss., asked Zuckerberg. “No one should have to go through the things that your families have suffered and this is why we invest so much and are going to continue doing industry leading efforts to make sure no one has to go through the types of things your families have had to suffer,” Zuckerberg said to the families in attendance.
Wednesday marks the first time Zuckerberg must testify about youth safety claims before a jury. Who, if they side with “Kaley,” could set a precedent for holding social media companies accountable for harmful or dangerous design decisions? But Lanier also called for changes to its platforms.
They ought to do better age-gating. They need to do better channeling out those children who are too young to use the app effectively and put the fence around it that they know how to do, they’re just choosing not to do,” Lanier told CNN.
Zuckerberg’s testimony will follow that of Instagram’s CEO, who said last week that he doesn’t believe social media can be clinically addictive. He also acknowledged that the use of Instagram can become problematic. TikTok and Snapchat already settled with the plaintiff.
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