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Instagram’s CEO dismissed the idea that users can be addicted to social media at a landmark California trial on Wednesday.
“I think it’s important to differentiate between clinical addiction and problematic use,” Adam Mosseri said on the witness stand. Psychologists do not classify social media addiction as an official diagnosis. Researchers have documented the harmful consequences of compulsive use among young people, and lawmakers around the world are worried about its addictive potential.
Mosseri is the first executive to testify in a series of trials in which hundreds of families and school districts have sued Meta, Snap, TikTok and YouTube, alleging the companies knowingly created addictive products that harm young people’s mental health.
The initial trial, in Los Angeles, focuses on a 20-year-old identified by the initials KGM who alleges the social media platform’s addictive design features, including endless scrolling, exacerbated her depression and suicidal thoughts. KGM and two other plaintiffs are part of bellwether trials – test cases designed to gauge a jury’s reaction for both sides.
Mark Lanier, the plaintiff’s lawyer, grilled Mosseri on Wednesday about whether Instagram put profits ahead of safety, as well as whether Instagram’s cosmetic filters promoted plastic surgery. Mosseri said the company tests new features that will be used by younger users before their release. “We are trying to be as safe as possible but also censor as little as possible,” he said.
Some families viewed the exchange as confirming their beliefs about the harm caused by Instagram. Matthew P Bergman, founding attorney of Social Media Victims Law Center and an attorney representing the plaintiffs, said in a statement: “Adam Mosseri’s testimony under oath today revealed what families have long suspected: Instagram’s executives made a conscious decision to put growth over the safety of minors.”
Mosseri has previously faced scrutiny about whether he may have dismissed internal warnings about the platform’s addictive design. A conversation between Meta researchers, mentioned by the plaintiff’s attorney in his opening statement, stressed the addictive nature of the platform. One employee suggested in an internal correspondence that “IG is a drug” and another stated: “LOL, I mean, all social media. We’re basically pushers.”
One of the two also mentioned: “I know Adam doesn’t want to hear it … He freaked out when I talked about dopamine in my teen fundamentals lead review, but it is undeniable. It is biological. It is psychological.”
Some parents who allege their children were harmed – and in some cases, died – because of social media platform’s addictive design were in court Wednesday. That includes John DeMay, whose son, Jordan, was 17 when he died by suicide in 2022 – hours after being targeted in an online sextortion scam. Two Nigerian brothers, who were using a hacked Instagram account to pretend they were a girl, blackmailed Jordan after he sent them nude photographs of himself; they demanded $1,000 from him, and threatened to send the images to his friends and family.
DeMay said he expected Mosseri to do little beyond try to save face ahead of his testimony. “It’s absolutely a win for us already because the testimony is public, the internal documents are public, and now Mr Mosseri is going to have to go on the stand and try to justify why his company was doing the things they were doing to build products that are so addictive, and continuing to do it even though kids are dying over them,” DeMay said, hours before Mosseri’s testimony.
Mosseri’s remarks follow the trial’s opening arguments earlier this week. Mark Lanier, a lawyer for the victims, cited internal Meta and Google documents to argue they targeted children as young as four; he called social media apps “digital casinos” because of features such as endless scrolling. YouTube’s lawyers rejected assertions that the platform counts as social media and that individuals were addicted. Meta’s lawyers disputed the science behind social media addiction and argued that KGM’s mental health issues had to do with familial abuse and issues, not social media.
Instagram has, in recent years, added some safety features aimed at its young users. But a 2025 review of these tools by Fairplay – a nonprofit which advocates for reducing the influence of big tech on children – found “that less than one in five are fully functional and two-thirds (64%) are either substantially ineffective or no longer exist”.
The plaintiffs’ focus is not on individual bad actors or content, but rather allegations that social media companies knowingly made their products addictive. This novel strategy has so far allowed the plaintiffs to bypass a federal law that typically shields platforms from legal action tied to harmful third-party content.
DeMay said he was at the US Senate in January 2024, when big tech executives testified before Congress about child safety. He said he has more hope in the courts ability to change policy.
“Every time we try to get something legislatively done it’s a grind. I’ve lost a lot of hope and I know other parents have, too,” he said. The financial pressure could make a difference, he said: “These companies – when they start getting sued for hundreds of millions of dollars by all these victims for the harms that they’ve been perpetrating on their users for so long – they’re going to be forced to make changes or else they’re going to go broke.”
