Instagram CEO Adam Mosseri is scheduled to testify in court regarding allegations that Meta Platforms designed its social media platforms to induce addiction in children while disregarding user safety.
The Multi-State Lawsuit and Allegations Against Meta
California, Colorado, Kentucky, and New Jersey lead the 29-state lawsuit, accusing Meta of intentionally engineering Instagram and Facebook to hook young users. According to the state complaints, these design choices fuel anxiety, depression, and even suicide while deceiving consumers about platform safety. Furthermore, the coalition claims Meta violated federal law by improperly collecting personal data from children under the age of 13. State officials indicated they may seek up to $200 billion in civil penalties.
Meta has rejected accusations that it sought to make children addicted for profit. According to company statements, internal research shows no clear causal link between teen social media use and negative psychological outcomes. Mosseri, who took leadership of Instagram in 2018, is slated as a central witness for the proceedings confirmed by California Attorney General Rob Bonta’s office.
Prior Legal Challenges and Court Rulings
The upcoming testimony follows a series of recent legal hurdles for the tech giant. In February, Mosseri testified in a Los Angeles trial where a jury found Meta and Alphabet’s Google negligent in platform design, holding them liable in a case involving a 20-year-old woman who claimed she developed a childhood addiction to Instagram and YouTube. Jurors awarded $6 million in damages in that case.
Additional legal pressures continue to mount across the country. Earlier this month, according to court records from New Mexico, a state judge ordered Meta to pay $567 million to address adolescent mental health harms after the state attorney general successfully classified the platforms as a public nuisance. Meanwhile, Tennessee is pursuing a separate, ongoing lawsuit in Nashville targeting Meta over similar platform safety concerns on Instagram.