The head of Instagram, Adam Mosseri, found himself in an Oakland, California courtroom Tuesday, defending Meta against accusations that it deliberately designed its platforms to hook young users. Attorneys representing California, Colorado, Kentucky, and New Jersey are suing the tech giant, claiming it intentionally fostered social media addiction and hid the dangers posed to minors. Meta's defense? They're sensitive to these issues and have been trying to fix them.
Mosseri, who has helmed Instagram since 2018, was grilled about a feature called 'Take a Break.' Introduced in 2021, it was meant to prompt teens to step away from the app after a set time. But, as evidence presented by the prosecution showed, it wasn't exactly a runaway success. At one point, only a dismal 1.8% of teens were actually using the feature. "The pop-up notifications 'helped, but not nearly as much as we hoped,'" Mosseri admitted under questioning from Jason Slothouber of the Colorado Attorney General's office. He even wished the app had "fixed" the uptake issues sooner.
But here's where it gets a little messy. In late 2024, Meta made the 'Take a Break' feature the default for all teen accounts. Slothouber pointed out that this change came after these states had already filed their lawsuit against Meta back in 2023. Mosseri conceded that by the time the feature became default, the issue of low initial usage was "entirely moot."
The states argue that Meta deliberately withheld critical information from users and parents – specifically, how ineffective features like 'Take a Break' actually were. They claim this constitutes a violation of consumer protection laws. Slothouber pressed Mosseri on a blog post he wrote around the time the feature launched, which boasted that "more than 90%" of users who did use the feature kept it enabled. Yet, Mosseri had failed to mention the tiny fraction of teens who actually bothered to use it in the first place. When asked directly if parents could have known that only 1-2% of teens were using the feature, Mosseri confirmed, "Correct." He also confirmed Meta never publicly disclosed this figure.
Mosseri tried to paint these features as just a few drops in a much larger bucket of Meta's efforts to combat problematic teen usage. He mentioned 'Quiet Mode,' which silences Instagram alerts, as another example. "In general, there are no silver bullets to problems like this. We have to do many things that add up," he stated, aligning with Meta's broader argument that they are acutely aware of and actively addressing issues impacting young users.
This trial is part of a growing wave of legal challenges against major tech companies, fueled by studies and public health advisories highlighting the potential harm social media can inflict on young people's mental health. It's no secret that platforms like Instagram, which boasts a staggering 2 billion daily active users globally (that's nearly a quarter of everyone on Earth!), are particularly sticky with the younger crowd. A 2024 Pew Research Center survey found about six in 10 U.S. teens use Instagram, with half admitting they use it every single day.
Mosseri himself is a veteran at Meta, having started as a product designer in 2008, just three years after graduating college. He climbed the corporate ladder at the company, then known as Facebook, before taking the helm at Instagram. His testimony comes as Meta faces increasing scrutiny over its practices and their impact on a generation that has grown up with these apps as a constant presence.