OAKLAND, Calif. — Adam Mosseri, head of Instagram, testified Tuesday in a high-profile trial that accuses Meta of building its platforms to addict children and hiding harmful effects from the public. Mosseri acknowledged flaws in some safety tools but said the company has worked on multiple measures to curb problematic teen use.
Under questioning from lawyers representing California, Colorado, Kentucky and New Jersey, Mosseri discussed a 2021 tool called Take a Break, which prompts young users to pause after a set time on the app. Prosecutors entered an internal document showing that at one point only about 1.8% of teens used the feature. Mosseri said the pop-ups “helped, but not nearly as much as we hoped,” and that he wished the issue had been addressed sooner.
Meta made Take a Break the default on teen accounts in late 2024 after introducing dedicated teen accounts that year. Mosseri told the court that once the setting became the default, concerns about early low uptake were “entirely moot.” Colorado attorney Jason Slothouber noted that the policy change came after the states filed their 2023 lawsuit.
The states contend Meta withheld important information from parents and users — for example, that very few teens engaged with Take a Break when it was optional — and say that omission violated consumer protection laws. Slothouber contrasted a Mosseri blog post that touted high retention among those who activated the feature with the fact that the overall usage rate was very low, arguing the company did not disclose that context.
Mosseri confirmed in court that, at the time, there was no way for parents to know the small proportion of teens who used the feature and that Meta has never publicly disclosed that specific figure.
He also described other tools Instagram deployed, such as Quiet Mode, which mutes notifications, and stressed there are no “silver bullets” for complex problems like teen well-being. “We have to do many things that add up,” he said, framing these features as part of a broader, ongoing effort.
Prosecutors also questioned Mosseri about internal communications related to a presentation on content teens see on the app. Those emails suggested designers were advised by Meta lawyers to limit what data Mosseri would see to reduce his “litigation exposure.” Mosseri said he was not aware of that exchange but found it plausible that document creators would aim for accuracy and avoid misstatements.
When asked whether lawyers are less qualified than product designers to decide what data to present to him, Mosseri agreed that a product designer would generally be better suited than a lawyer to choose technical details.
Meta denies the states’ allegations that its products were intentionally engineered to hook minors. The company has argued in court that it recognized risks around teen use and implemented numerous interventions to address them. The case has drawn comparisons from some legal experts to the tobacco litigation of the 1990s, given its scope and potential consequences.
The stakes are large: a coalition of states has sought roughly $200 billion in damages, and some early estimates of potential penalties in the litigation have reached as high as $1.4 trillion. Meta reported in July that Instagram has about 2 billion daily active users. Surveys show Instagram remains particularly popular among teens: a 2024 Pew Research Center study found roughly six in 10 U.S. teens say they use Instagram and about half use it daily.
Mosseri, who began at the company in 2008 and has led Instagram since 2018, is expected to return to the witness stand. The trial is scheduled to continue for several more weeks.