Instagram CEO denies addiction claims in landmark US trial

Weather - Sydney 10°C

Instagram CEO denies addiction claims in landmark US trial

ECONOMY 11.02.2026

Instagram CEO denies addiction claims in landmark US trial / Photo: © GETTY IMAGES NORTH AMERICA/AFP

Instagram CEO Adam Mosseri on Wednesday rejected the notion that users could be clinically addicted to social media, as he testified in a landmark California trial over whether his company knowingly hooked children on its platform for profit.

Change text size:

Meta -- the parent company of Instagram and Facebook -- and Google-owned YouTube are defendants in the blockbuster trial, which could set a legal precedent regarding whether social media giants deliberately designed their platforms to be addictive to children.

"I think it's important to differentiate between clinical addiction and problematic use," Mosseri said as he was grilled by plaintiff attorney Mark Lanier.

"I'm sure I said that I've been addicted to a Netflix show when I binged it really late one night, but I don't think it's the same thing as clinical addiction," he added.

Addiction is at the heart of the civil trial, which centers on allegations that a 20-year-old woman, identified as Kaley G.M., suffered severe mental harm after becoming addicted to social media as a young child.

She started using YouTube at six and joined Instagram at 11, before moving on to Snapchat and TikTok two or three years later.

Mosseri was the first major Silicon Valley figure to appear before the jury to defend himself against accusations that Instagram functions as little more than a dopamine "slot machine" for vulnerable young people.

In front of the jury of six men and women, Mosseri also pushed back against the idea that Meta was motivated by a "move fast and break things" ethos that valued profit over safety.

"Protecting minors over the long run is even good for the business and for profit," he said.

Mosseri's testimony precedes the highly anticipated appearance of his boss, Mark Zuckerberg, currently scheduled for February 18, with YouTube CEO Neil Mohan the following day.

In opening remarks this week, plaintiffs' attorney Lanier told the jury that YouTube and Meta both engineer addiction in young people's brains to gain users and profits.

Meta and Google "don't only build apps; they build traps," Lanier said.

Meta's attorney said that the suffering encountered by the plaintiff was due to her family context and could not be attributed to her use of Instagram or other social media.

The attorney for YouTube insisted that the video platform was neither intentionally addictive nor technically social media.

YouTube is selling "the ability to watch something essentially for free on your computer, on your phone, on your iPad," the attorney insisted, comparing the service to Netflix or traditional TV.

- 'Gateway drug' -

Stanford University School of Medicine professor Anna Lembke, the first witness called by the plaintiffs, testified Tuesday that she views social media, broadly speaking, as a drug.

She also said young people's brains were underdeveloped, which is why they "often take risks that they shouldn't," comparing YouTube to a gateway drug for kids.

The trial is currently scheduled to run until March 20.

Social media firms face more than a thousand lawsuits accusing them of leading young users to become addicted to content and suffer from depression, eating disorders, psychiatric hospitalization, and even suicide.

Kaley G.M.'s case is being treated as a bellwether proceeding whose outcome could set the tone for a wave of similar litigation across the United States.

Two further test trials are planned in Los Angeles between now and the summer, while a nationwide lawsuit will be heard by a federal judge in Oakland, California.

In New Mexico, a separate lawsuit accusing Meta of prioritizing profit over protecting minors from sexual predators began on Monday.

H.Davies--TNT

Featured

Nearly 1,100 flights cancelled after UK air traffic control glitch

Almost 1,100 flights to and from UK airports were cancelled Tuesday due to what the country's air traffic control service called a technical issue, in the latest glitch to spark travel chaos.

Carney touts Canada 'pivot' away from US as tariffs rise

Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney on Tuesday said reducing economic ties with the United States would come at a cost but the long-term benefits were clear, as retaliatory tariffs on US products took effect.

The "Everlasting Battery" Inside Your Joints:UConn Professor's Self-Powered Healing Material just Got Acquired

A material that turns your own movement into medicine has just landed a corporate home. PetVivo Holdings (OTCQX: PETV), a veterinary biotech and biomedical device company focused on treating osteoarthritis in dogs and horses, has acquired PiezoBioMembrane (PBM) — a startup built around a biodegradable implant that generates electricity from the everyday force of a joint in motion, and uses that charge to help regrow cartilage from the inside out. The material is the invention of Thanh Nguyen, a professor of mechanical engineering in UConn's College of Engineering, who founded PBM in 2021 to advance new implementation methods for his work with piezoelectric materials — substances that convert mechanical force into electrical energy. These materials are typically ceramics: hard, brittle, and poorly suited for medical use. But Nguyen's lab developed new forms that are so , flexible, and biodegradable, breaking down naturally within the body over time. wound healing, The materials have already shown strong potential across a range of medical applications, including tissue regeneration, implanted force sensors, and targeted drug delivery in tumor treatment. How It Works biodegradable ultrasound for In the case of arthritis, Nguyen explains, the piezoelectric materials function as an off-the-shelf product that can be implanted or injected directly into the ailing joint — with no drugs, chemicals, or cells required. The everyday force exerted on the joint generates a small electrical charge, which helps regrow healthy cartilage, mimicking the body's natural use of electricity to regenerate tissue. "The body can be electrically stimulated to regrow," Nguyen says. PBM's materials "act like a battery — an everlasting battery that works whenever there is a force applied, and vanishes safely inside the body over time." PetVivo's Vision for the Acquisition PetVivo Holdings CEO John Lai expressed enthusiasm for the merger's potential to improve the lives of companion animals globally. "PBM has developed a compelling functional biomaterials platform with the potential to support the development of multiple medical device and therapeutic product lines across both human and animal health markets," Lai said in a press release. "By combining PBM's scientific innovation with PetVivo's product development capabilities, commercialization experience, regulatory expertise, and public company infrastructure, we believe we can accelerate theadvancement of technologies that may serve as the foundation for numerous future products and strategic opportunities." For Nguyen, the deal is a chance to scale technology that could eventually benefit both animals and people. "PetVivo is an animal health company, but they do have a big passion: pushing the technology towards clinical trials for human use," Nguyen says. "That aligned perfectly with my passion for developing technology that has an impact on human life. That is why I am excited about this merger, which facilitates my passion." A Track Record of Innovation Nguyen's research sits at the intersection of medicine, micro/nanotechnology, and biomaterials. His inventions have earned him publications in prominent scientific journals and media coverage from outlets including NPR. Nguyen founded PBM during the COVID-19 pandemic, a er realizing the material he had developed could be used to create an especially effective, biodegradable face mask — one where the mechanical force of breathing generated an electrical charge that provided an extra layer of protection against viruses. PBM is not Nguyen's only venture in the acquisition pipeline. His other startup, Single-Time Microneedles (STM), is also currently undergoing an acquisition process. STM has pioneered stable, efficient vaccine delivery technology in the form of an adhesive patch. shelfNguyen's focus on biodegradable materials has translated into a remarkably diverse range of medical applications. He has received five R01 grants from the National Institutes of Health (NIH) supporting research in cartilage regeneration, bone regeneration, HIV antibody delivery systems, and biodegradable ultrasound technology to boost the effectiveness of chemotherapy for brain cancer. "Whatever we are working on, we want to show that it works very well in vitro and in vivo," Nguyen says. "Then, when we are at the point of commercialization, we set up a startup or license the technology — or maybe team up with an industry partner." Thanh Nguyen is a professor of mechanical engineering in UConn's College of Engineering. (Courtesy of Thanh Nguyen

Octrado introduces its proprietary trading offering: "Your Skill. Our Capital"

Infrastructure, transparent rules and clear legal boundaries positioned as the core of the funded-account model

Change text size:

The National Times - Instagram CEO denies addiction claims in landmark US trial