Instagram CEO rejects addiction claims in lawsuit

Instagram CEO Adam Mosseri testified in a Los Angeles court that social media use should not be equated with clinical addiction.

The lawsuit, filed by a 20-year-old woman claiming long-term social networking site use caused mental health issues, seeks to hold tech companies accountable.

Mosseri said that problematic use differs from addiction requiring medical treatment, and denied that Instagram intentionally fosters addictive behavior.

He acknowledged that some users feel good from prolonged use but said this is not a company-designed benefit.

Regarding concerns over beauty filters influencing cosmetic surgery, Mosseri said the platform aims to balance safety and free expression.

Mark Zuckerberg and YouTube CEO Neal Mohan are also scheduled to testify later this month.

The trial continues as the debate over social media’s impact on youth persists.

🔗 Source: Chosunbiz

🧠 Food for thought

Implications, context, and why it matters.

Internal memos say addiction was a business goal

Instagram head Adam Mosseri rejects claims of designing for addiction, yet the plaintiffs lean on internal company documents introduced in court 1.
A 2018 Meta memo wrote that “if we want to win big with teens, we must bring them in as tweens” 1.
An internal Google memo from the early 2010s went further, stating, “[the] goal is not viewership, it’s viewer addiction” 1.
That paper trail may explain why co-defendants TikTok and Snap (Snapchat’s parent company) agreed to pay undisclosed sums to avoid the current trial, leaving Meta and Google (YouTube) before the jury 1.

The verdict could change liability for engagement-driven tech

This lawsuit is a “bellwether” trial, a test meant to gauge how jurors respond before thousands of similar pending cases move forward 1.
Legal observers call it a “valuation event” that could set a dollar baseline for liability tied to harms such as eating disorders and suicide allegedly linked to platform use 1.
The legal theory tries to get around Section 230 (a US law that often shields online platforms from liability for user-posted content) and First Amendment protections by targeting alleged negligent, addictive product design, an approach that could also reach video games or generative AI 1 2.