He spoke during the historic trial that accuses Meta and Google
The chief executive of Meta Platforms, Mark Zuckerberg, repeatedly stated this Wednesday (18), during a historic trial into social media addiction among young people, that Meta – which controls Facebook and Instagram – does not allow children under 13 to use its platforms.
He was, however, confronted with evidence that suggests this is an important audience for Meta.
Mark Lanier, lawyer for the woman suing Google’s Instagram and YouTube for damage to her mental health as a child, pressed Zuckerberg about statements he made to the US Congress in 2024, when he said that users under 13 are not allowed on the platform. Lanier confronted Zuckerberg with internal Meta documents.
Or case
The trial in question involves a California woman who started using Instagram and YouTube as a child. She alleges that companies sought to profit by addicting children to their services, even though they knew that social media could harm mental health. She claims the apps fueled her depression and suicidal thoughts and seeks to hold companies accountable.
Meta and Google denied the allegations and highlighted the work they have been doing to add features that keep users safe.
“If we want to have big success with teens, we need to win them over in their pre-teens,” read an internal Instagram presentation from 2018.
“And yet you say you would never do that,” Lanier told Zuckerberg. The billionaire Facebook founder responded that Lanier was “distorting” what he had said.
The CEO stated that Meta “has had different conversations over time to try to build different versions of services that children can use safely.”
He said, for example, that Meta discussed creating a version of Instagram for children under 13, but ended up not implementing it.
Meta’s competitors, Snap and TikTok, reached a settlement with the plaintiff before the trial began last week.
Global reaction
Meta faces possible damages at jury trial in Los Angeles, part of a wave of lawsuits against social media companies in the U.S., where cases are beginning to go to trial amid a broader global backlash over the effect of social media on young users.
Another document presented in the lawsuit is an email from Meta’s former vice president of global affairs Nick Clegg who told Zuckerberg and other senior executives, “We have age limits that are unenforceable (or unenforceable?)” and noted that Instagram’s different policies compared to Facebook make it “difficult to say we are doing everything we can.”
Zuckerberg responded by saying that it is difficult for app developers to verify users’ ages and that the responsibility should lie with mobile device manufacturers.
He testified that teens on Instagram account for less than 1% of revenue.
Screen time
Zuckerberg was also questioned about statements he made to the US Congress in 2021, when he stated that he did not direct Instagram teams to maximize user time spent on the app.
Lanier showed jurors emails from 2014 and 2015 in which Zuckerberg set goals to increase time spent on the app by double-digit percentages.
Zuckerberg responded that while the company had previously set goals related to the time users spend on the app, that approach had since changed.
“If you are trying to say that my testimony was not accurate, I strongly disagree,” the CEO said.
Jurors were shown a 2022 document that listed “milestones” for Instagram in the coming years, including the gradual increase in the time users spend on the app daily, from 40 minutes in 2023 to 46 minutes in 2026.
Zuckerberg stated that these numbers were not “goals”, but rather a “confirmation” for the management team about the company’s performance.
In response to questions from Meta’s lawyer, Paul Schmidt, Zuckerberg stated that the company sets these goals to provide a good experience for users.
“If we do this well, people will find the services more valuable and a side effect will be that they will use the services more often,” he said.
Historic trial
This was the first time the billionaire Facebook founder had testified in court about Instagram’s impact on the mental health of young users.
Attorney Matthew Bergman represents other parents who claim social media caused their children’s deaths. Outside the courtroom, he told reporters that parents — several of whom have been following the trial — hope the cost of the lawsuit will force change in the industry.
“We know that simply by reaching this milestone, justice has been served,” he said of Zuckerberg’s testimony and trial.
The lawsuit serves as a test case for similar claims from a larger group of cases against Alphabet’s Meta, Google, Snap and TikTok.
Families, school districts and states have filed thousands of lawsuits across the U.S. accusing companies of fueling a mental health crisis among young people.
An unfavorable verdict could undermine these big technology companies’ long legal defense against allegations of harm to users’ health.
For many years, US law has protected bigtechs from liability for content-related decisions. The ongoing lawsuits, however, focus on how the companies designed and operated the platforms.
Over the years, investigative reporting revealed internal Meta documents that showed the company was aware of the potential harm to mental health.
Meta researchers found that some teens reported that Instagram made them feel bad about their bodies regularly, and that these people viewed significantly more content related to eating disorders than those who didn’t, as reported by Reuters in October.
Adam Mosseri, the head of Instagram, testified last week that he was unaware of a recent Meta study that found no link between parental supervision and teens’ attention to their own social media use.
Teens with difficult life circumstances reported more frequently using Instagram habitually or unintentionally, according to the document presented at trial.
Meta’s lawyer told jurors that the health records of the woman plaintiff in the trial show that her problems originate from a troubled childhood and that social media was a form of creative expression for her.
The US lawsuit is part of a broader reckoning for technology companies.
Australia has banned access to social media platforms for users under the age of 16. Other countries are considering similar restrictions.
In the US, Florida prohibited companies from allowing access to users under 14 years of age. Trade associations in the technology sector are challenging the law in court.
Published by Agência Brasil on 02/19/2026
By Jody Godoy – Reuters Reporter
Editing: Denise Griesinger
Source: https://www.ocafezinho.com/2026/02/19/zuckerberg-nega-desenvolver-redes-sociais-para-viciar-jovens-em-telas/
