Zuckerberg defends Instagram in court and criticizes users for lying about age

Los Ángeles.- Mark Zuckerberg, founder and CEO of Meta, defended this Wednesday Instagram's age verification practices, during his testimony in a historic trial about social media addiction in a Los Angeles court, in which he warned that some users lie about their age. The tech executive testified for the first time before a jury regarding a lawsuit against Meta, the parent company of Instagram, and Google, owned by Alphabet, owner of YouTube, for designing products that deliberately create addictions, like those of cigarettes, and cause harm to users. The lawsuit was filed by a woman, 20 years old, identified as K.G,M., who claims that the early use of social media, before the age of ten, made her addicted to technology and worsened her depression and suicidal thoughts. Zuckerberg testified that access to Instagram has never been allowed to children under 13 years of age and stressed that "the company's policy has been clear". But he also blamed certain users for the responsibility in the use of Instagram: "I think there is a group of people, potentially a significant number, who lie about their age to use our services", said the 41-year-old executive.

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The young plaintiff's lawyers cornered Zuckerberg by showing him a document that suggested that by 2018, some 4 million Instagram users were under 13 years old, approximately 30% of all children between 10 and 12 years old in the United States at that time, according to information cited by the newspaper Los Angeles Times. In the first session of the more than three-hour testimony, Zuckerberg was also questioned by the defense for allegedly receiving training to testify, something he denied. Although the executive presented his testimony before the United States Congress and in other requests, this is the first time he has to defend one of his popular social networks before a jury and with the presence of dozens of parents who accuse him in part of causing the death of their children. “We expect you to take responsibility for developing products that create addiction”, she told EFE, Lori Schott, whose daughter committed suicide after years of struggling with what she described as an addiction to social media. The mother who is also leading a lawsuit against the platforms believes that the tech companies "knew that their design tactics were harming the mental health" of the girls. "Today is a day to demand justice", she added. The testimony of the CEO of Meta has been the most publicized in the trial that began on February 9th in the Superior Court of Los Angeles. Technological advances permeated the small room, packed with journalists and the public, so much so that Judge Carolyn B. Kuhl warned that she would not allow the use of smart glasses during the trial. "This court has ordered that no facial recognition of the jury be performed. If they have done so, they must remove it. This is very serious," said the federal magistrate. Zuckerberg showed up at 8:30 a.m. local time (16.30 GMT) dressed in a suit and followed by at least eight people, including two agents from the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) who escorted him into the room. The 15 seats in the audience were raffled off among dozens of people who wanted to hear the executive's testimony. The outcome of K.G.M.'s lawsuit could set a precedent for the resolution of around 1,500 similar lawsuits against social media companies in the U.S. The trial is scheduled to last at least six weeks. K.G.M. also sued Snapchat and TikTok. But both companies reached an out-of-court settlement before the trial last month. Meta also faces a trial in New Mexico that is in its second week. The lawsuit, filed by the state, alleges that the platforms of the company founded by Zuckerberg provided "a market" for child predators and did not filter harmful content for minors.