Instagram head testifies as Meta faces multi-state lawsuit over teen mental health
Instagram CEO Adam Mosseri defended the platform’s safety measures in federal court, where Meta is being sued by four states over alleged harms to young users.
In a federal courtroom in Oakland, Adam Mosseri, who has led Instagram since 2018, took the stand to rebut claims that the platform’s design deliberately harms youth mental health. Prosecutors, led by Colorado Attorney General senior prosecutor Jason Slothouber, highlighted the modest uptake of Instagram’s "take a break" prompt among teenagers, questioning its effectiveness. Mosseri countered that the feature is just one of many safety initiatives and emphasized broader efforts to improve user well-being.
The lawsuit, filed by California, Colorado, Kentucky and New Jersey, joins a broader wave of 29 state actions against Meta launched in 2023, with additional cases pending in Tennessee and elsewhere. Earlier testimony from Instagram product design director Francesco Fogu and former Meta data scientist George Volichenko raised questions about internal decision-making and the company’s prioritization of litigation risk over user protection. The trial, expected to run about six weeks, follows a prior California state case that resulted in a $6 million judgment against Meta and Google for similar allegations.
Why it matters
The case could shape how social-media firms design features for minors and influence future regulation of online platforms.
How this story developed
- Aug 18 Meta faces federal trial over alleged child safety harms in California
- Aug 18 Judge Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers allowed whistleblower testimony and key internal documents at the start of the trial.
- Aug 19 Former Meta safety researcher Arturo Béjar testified that he raised safety concerns with Mark Zuckerberg more than one hundred times.
- Aug 20 An eight‑person advisory jury will deliver findings to Judge Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers.
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