In a crowded Los Angeles courtroom on Wednesday, a lawyer drew a picture of a frowning stick figure and projected it on a screen in front of Mark Zuckerberg, Meta\u2019s chief executive.<\/p>\n
The figure represented a vulnerable child. The plaintiff\u2019s lawyer asked Mr. Zuckerberg, 41, clad in a navy blue suit and gray tie, whether a reasonable company should help, ignore or prey on the child.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think a reasonable company should try to help a person that uses its services,\u201d Mr. Zuckerberg said on the stand in California Superior Court of Los Angeles County.<\/p>\n
Mr. Zuckerberg, who founded Facebook in his college dorm room in 2004, was testifying in a landmark tech addiction case<\/a> against Meta and YouTube that is the first in a flood of lawsuits filed by minors, school districts and state attorneys general claiming that social media platforms, much like cigarettes or slot machines at casinos, are addictive and harmful. The tech companies have denied the claims.<\/p>\n Mr. Zuckerberg\u2019s appearance in court \u2014 his first time testifying about child safety in front of a jury \u2014 was highly anticipated. Meta, which owns Instagram and Facebook and has more than 3.5 billion users, has come under fire as one of the biggest providers of platforms for teenagers. Parents, as well as tech policy and child safety groups have accused the company of hooking young people on its apps and causing mental health issues that have led to anxiety, depression, eating disorders and self-harm.<\/p>\n Those concerns have mounted globally. In 2024, the U.S. Surgeon General called for adding warning labels<\/a> to social media explaining the platforms were associated with mental health harms for adolescents. In December, Australia barred children under 16 from using social media<\/a>. Malaysia, Spain and Denmark are considering similar rules.<\/p>\n Mr. Zuckerberg has faced particular ire. He has been called before Congress for questioning about child safety on multiple occasions. In one 2024 hearing, he was forced to stand and apologize to parents<\/a> who said social media contributed to their children\u2019s deaths.<\/p>\n Dozens of U.S. state attorneys general have also sued Meta over allegations of child sexual exploitation and other issues. In New Mexico, a trial began this month over a case brought by the state\u2019s attorney general, Ra\u00fal Torrez,<\/a> accusing Meta of allowing predators to reach children and having chatbots that harmed young people.<\/p>\n In internal documents<\/a> that surfaced in some of the lawsuits, Mr. Zuckerberg and other Meta leaders repeatedly played down their platforms\u2019 risks to young people, while rejecting employee pleas to bolster youth guardrails and hire additional staff.<\/p>\n Some of those documents were on display during the opening statements of the bellwether case Mr. Zuckerberg testified at on Wednesday. A 20-year-old Californian, identified as K.G.M., sued YouTube, TikTok, Snap and Meta in 2023, accusing the companies of engineering their apps to create compulsive use. That led to her body dysmorphia, anxiety and depression, she said. K.G.M. settled with Snap and TikTok for undisclosed terms.<\/p>\n K.G.M.\u2019s lawyer, Mark Lanier, said during his opening statement this month that Instagram and YouTube\u2019s apps were built like \u201cdigital casinos\u201d that profited off addictive behavior. He pointed to internal documents from Meta and Google, which owns YouTube, comparing their technology to gambling, tobacco and drug use. In a 2015 memo, Mr. Zuckerberg encouraged executives to prioritize increasing the time that teenagers spend on Meta\u2019s apps.<\/p>\n Meta said in its opening statement that K.G.M.\u2019s mental health issues were caused by familial abuse and turmoil. The company presented medical records to show that social media addiction was not a focus of her therapy sessions.<\/p>\n