"Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg is set to be grilled on Wednesday by lawyers who say social media services like Instagram were intentionally designed as "digital casinos" to hook young people, fueling a teen mental health crisis. Zuckerberg's appearance before a Los Angeles jury is the most highly-anticipated of the trial. Like the rest of the proceeding, Zuckerberg's testimony will not be available by live stream."
"The crux of the trial is one question that could have sweeping consequences for Silicon Valley: Are social media platforms "defective products" engineered to exploit vulnerabilities in young peoples' brains? Attorneys for the tech companies have countered that a child experiencing mental health issues after using a platform does not mean social media is responsible for the child's problems. Instead, they argue that the industry has become a scapegoat for the complex emotional issues children face that can have many root causes."
"Yet lawyers for the parents suing point to internal documents at the companies stressing the goal of making social media apps difficult to put down through features like infinite scroll, autoplay, likes, beauty filters and push notifications. "These companies built machines designed to addict the brains of children," said lawyer Mark Lanier during the trial's opening statements. "And they did it on purpose.""
Mark Zuckerberg is scheduled to testify in a Los Angeles trial where parents allege social media platforms were intentionally designed to addict young people, fueling a teen mental health crisis. Lawyers for parents cite internal documents describing features like infinite scroll, autoplay, likes, beauty filters and push notifications as mechanisms to make apps hard to put down. Tech-company attorneys counter that correlation does not prove causation and that social media is a scapegoat for complex child emotional issues. The lead plaintiff, identified as KGM or Kaley, says early compulsive use of YouTube and Instagram worsened her depression and suicidal thoughts. The outcome could influence roughly 1,600 similar cases.
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