Mark Zuckerberg surrounded in US court over Instagram design! Are children being deliberately addicted?

Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg faced sharp questions during a social media trial in a US court, where it was alleged that Meta’s platforms like Instagram deliberately addict children and harm their mental health. The trial took place in a Los Angeles court and Zuckerberg testified on Wednesday. This case is against a 20 year old girl, who is being called KGM, she is a resident of California.

The girl says that using social media since childhood made her addicted, depression increased and thoughts of suicide started. He started YouTube at the age of 6, Instagram at the age of 9, then TikTok and Snapchat. This is the first case in which a verdict will come out of thousands of cases, which will become an example for other cases. Both Meta and Google’s YouTube are accused of designing the platforms in such a way that children come back again and again and spend more time, which worsens mental health.

Is the app allowed even at a young age?

Lawyer Mark Lanier asked Mark Zuckerberg many questions. He asked whether Instagram is addictive. On this, Zuckerberg did not give a direct answer, but said that users spend more time because the platform provides value. The lawyer showed old documents, like when the girl started Instagram in 2015, 4 million users were below 13 years of age and 30 percent of 10-12 year old children in America were using Instagram. Question was raised on age verification, lawyer said whether a 9 year old child will read the fine print, are children below 13 years allowed.

On this, Mark Zuckerberg said that the company never allows people below 13 years of age, but people increase the age by lying and the company deletes the account. He said that checking age is complicated, but the company is making improvements and bringing new tools. Mark Zuckerberg said that we did not do it quickly, but now we are in the right place and will do better in future.

The trial will end by the end of March

During the trial, Mark Zuckerberg spoke less at first, but later became irritated. He said that the company has made improvements in age checking but there are challenges. It was also put forward that the girl already had mental health problems and Instagram was not the main reason for it. The company says that we are committed to the safety of the youth and there is no clinical addiction. Instagram head Adam Mosseri previously testified that social media does not lead to clinical addiction and that the company puts people’s well-being first. This trial will end by the end of March and its decision can have a big impact on social media companies.

This is also a matter to think about for Indian parents because in India too, children spend a lot of time on Instagram and Facebook. Features like infinite scroll, notifications, filters keep the users engaged. Zuckerberg had earlier apologized to the affected families in Congress but did not take responsibility. Testified here for the first time in front of the jury. Mental health of children is most important, hence such cases are necessary.