"Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg was clearly getting testy. "That's not what I'm saying at all," said the tech billionaire. "I think you're misunderstanding what I'm saying," Zuckerberg responded. "You're mischaracterizing what I'm saying," he shot back. The executive was testifying on Wednesday before a jury in Los Angeles in a marquee social media trial accusing Meta of deliberately designing features of Instagram to addict children."
"Mark Lanier, a Texas trial lawyer and pastor with a folksy courtroom demeanor, directed Zuckerberg's attention to a 2020 internal Meta document showing that 11-year-olds were four times as likely to keep coming back to Facebook, compared to older users. Instagram's minimum age for signing up is 13. "People who join Facebook at 11 years old? Lanier asked Zuckerberg. "I thought y'all didn't have any of those?""
"The legal team representing the plaintiff, a 20-year-old California woman known in court documents as "Kaley," attempted to demonstrate that the top-down goal of Meta has always been to encourage users to get on their platforms as young as possible, and once there, to figure out ways to keep them around. Often features like "beauty filters," made the app more alluring, Lanier argued."
Mark Zuckerberg testified in a Los Angeles trial alleging Meta engineered Instagram to addict children. Internal documents showed 11-year-olds were four times likelier to return to Facebook and set goals to increase time spent by 10-year-olds. Instagram's stated minimum age is 13, yet internal strategy included bringing in tweens to win big with teens. The plaintiff's legal team presented those documents to argue that company leadership pursued top-down goals to attract younger users and design features—such as beauty filters—that make the app more alluring and encourage prolonged engagement.
Read at www.npr.org
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