Instagram CEO Testifies in Child Addiction Trial
Last update: February 11, 2026
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Mosseri will be the first senior Silicon Valley executive to take the stand before a jury in the case....
Instagram chief executive Adam Mosseri is set to testify on Wednesday in a closely watched California trial examining whether major social media companies deliberately designed their platforms to be addictive to children for profit.
Meta Platforms, the parent company of Instagram and Facebook, and Alphabet’s Google, which owns YouTube, are defendants in the civil case. The lawsuit could set a legal precedent on whether tech companies knowingly engineered features to hook young users.
Mosseri's appearance will be followed by Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg, scheduled to testify on Feb. 18, and YouTube CEO Neal Mohan the day after.
The case centres on allegations that a 20-year-old woman, identified in court as Kaley G.M., suffered severe mental harm after becoming addicted to social media as a child. She began using YouTube at age six and joined Instagram at 11, later adding Snapchat and TikTok.
In opening statements, lawyers for the companies rejected claims that their platforms were intentionally addictive. YouTube attorney Luis Li told jurors the video-sharing site was neither social media nor addictive.
“It’s not social media addiction when it’s not social media and it’s not addiction,” Li said, likening YouTube to Netflix or traditional television and describing it as a service that allows users to watch content for free on various devices.
Plaintiffs’ lawyer Mark Lanier argued that Meta and Google design their platforms to stimulate young users’ brains in ways that encourage prolonged engagement.
Meta and Google “don’t only build apps; they build traps,” Lanier told the jury.
Anna Lembke, a Stanford University School of Medicine professor called as an expert witness by the plaintiffs, testified that she views social media broadly as akin to a drug and said children’s brains are particularly vulnerable to risk-taking behaviour. She described YouTube as a potential “gateway” for young users.
The trial is scheduled to run until March 20.
Social media companies face more than 1,000 lawsuits across the United States alleging their platforms have contributed to addiction, depression and other harms among young users. Kaley G.M.’s case is seen as a bellwether that could influence similar litigation nationwide.
Additional trials are planned in Los Angeles in the coming months, and a separate federal case is pending before a judge in Oakland, California. In New Mexico, another lawsuit accusing Meta of prioritising profit over protecting minors from sexual exploitation began this week.
