Mark Zuckerberg set to testify in watershed social media trial

Mark Zuckerberg, the CEO of Meta, volition attest during a landmark societal media proceedings successful Los Angeles

LOS ANGELES -- LOS ANGELES (AP) — Mark Zuckerberg volition attest successful an unprecedented societal media proceedings that questions whether Meta's platforms deliberately addict and harm children.

Meta's CEO is expected to reply pugnacious questions connected Wednesday from attorneys representing a present 20-year-old pistillate identified by the initials KGM, who claims her aboriginal usage of societal media addicted her to the exertion and exacerbated slump and suicidal thoughts. Meta Platforms and Google’s YouTube are the 2 remaining defendants successful the case, which TikTok and Snap person settled.

Zuckerberg has testified successful different trials and answered questions from Congress astir younker information connected Meta's platforms, and helium apologized to families astatine that proceeding whose lives had been upended by tragedies they believed were due to the fact that of societal media. This trial, though, marks the archetypal clip Zuckerberg volition reply akin questions successful beforehand of a jury. and, again, bereaved parents are expected to beryllium successful the constricted courtroom seats disposable to the public.

The case, on with 2 others, has been selected arsenic a bellwether trial, meaning its result could interaction however thousands of akin lawsuits against societal media companies would play out.

A Meta spokesperson said the institution powerfully disagrees with the allegations successful the suit and said they are “confident the grounds volition amusement our longstanding committedness to supporting young people.”

One of Meta's attorneys, Paul Schmidt, said successful his opening connection that the institution is not disputing that KGM experienced intelligence wellness struggles, but alternatively that Instagram played a important origin successful those struggles. He pointed to aesculapian records that showed a turbulent location life, and some helium and an lawyer representing YouTube reason she turned to their platforms arsenic a coping mechanics oregon a means of escaping her intelligence wellness struggles.

Zuckerberg's grounds comes a week aft that of Adam Mosseri, the caput of Meta's Instagram, who said successful the courtroom that helium disagrees with the thought that radical tin beryllium clinically addicted to societal media platforms. Mosseri maintained that Instagram works hard to support young radical utilizing the service, and said it's “not bully for the company, implicit the agelong run, to marque decisions that nett for america but are mediocre for people’s well-being."

Much of Mosseri's questioning from the plaintiff's lawyer, Mark Lanier, centered connected cosmetic filters connected Instagram that changed people’s quality — a taxable that Lanier is definite to revisit with Zuckerberg. He is besides expected to look questions astir Instagram’s algorithm, the infinite quality of Meta’ feeds and different features the plaintiffs reason are designed to get users hooked.

Meta is besides facing a abstracted proceedings successful New Mexico that began past week.

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