Adam Mosseri, the head of Instagram, faced intense questioning in an Oakland courtroom on Tuesday as part of a sweeping trial against Meta. Attorneys representing California, Colorado, Kentucky, and New Jersey allege that Meta intentionally designed its platforms to hook children and harvest their data while concealing the psychological risks involved. Throughout his testimony, Mosseri defended the company’s actions, arguing that Meta has consistently attempted to mitigate the risks of social media overuse through various safety tools.
A central point of contention during the hearing was a tool called Take a Break, which prompts teens to pause their scrolling after a set amount of time. While Mosseri presented these features as part of a broader effort to support young users, internal documents revealed that only 1.8 percent of teenagers actually used the feature upon its release. When pressed by Jason Slothouber of the Colorado Attorney General’s office, Mosseri admitted that the company never publicly disclosed how few teens were utilizing the tool, despite earlier promotional posts claiming high retention rates among those who did opt in.
The prosecution further suggested that Meta prioritized legal shielding over transparency when discussing teen safety internally. Evidence emerged showing that some product designers were advised by corporate lawyers to limit the data shared with Mosseri to reduce his litigation exposure. Although Mosseri claimed he was unaware of this specific directive and argued that such precautions ensure accuracy, he conceded that a lawyer is generally less qualified than a product designer when determining which data sets are most critical for understanding user behavior.
Mosseri maintained throughout his testimony that there is no single solution for managing social media habits and described Meta’s approach as a collection of smaller improvements rather than any one silver bullet. He criticized the prosecution for stripping internal documents out of context to paint a misleading picture of the company’s intentions. However, the financial stakes remain staggering for Meta, with potential penalties estimated at upwards of 1.4 trillion dollars if the company is found liable for violating consumer protection laws.
This trial comes amid a growing wave of litigation across the United States following reports linking social media usage to declining youth mental health. Legal observers have compared current proceedings to the landmark lawsuits against Big Tobacco in the nineties, suggesting this could lead to fundamental changes in how tech giants operate. With several weeks left in the trial and more testimony scheduled for Wednesday, the court will continue to weigh whether Meta’s safety initiatives were genuine protections or merely superficial attempts to avoid regulatory scrutiny.