Mosseri, who leads Instagram, is among the first major tech executives to testify in a growing wave of cases accusing platforms of harming young users. The current case targets Meta, Instagram’s parent company, along with YouTube. Similar lawsuits have also been filed against TikTok and Snap.
At the center of this particular trial is a 20-year-old plaintiff, who says she began using Instagram and YouTube heavily as a child. Her legal team argues that the platforms’ design encouraged compulsive use that contributed to depression, anxiety, and suicidal thoughts.
Mosseri did not deny that excessive use can happen. But he pushed back strongly against the term “clinical addiction.”
When attorneys pointed to testimony that the plaintiff sometimes spent up to 16 hours a day on Instagram, Mosseri described it as “problematic use,” not addiction in a medical sense. He compared it to binge-watching a TV series.
“I’m sure I’ve said I was addicted to a Netflix show after staying up too late,” he told the court. “But that’s not the same thing as clinical addiction.” In his framing, personal factors and broader lifestyle patterns play a significant role, not just platform mechanics.
That distinction is central to the defense. Plaintiffs are trying to show that the platforms’ design directly contributed to psychological harm. Meta’s position, at least as articulated in court, is that heavy use alone does not equal medically recognized addiction, and that correlation should not be confused with causation.
Critics argue that this minimizes growing evidence linking prolonged social media use to mental health challenges among teens. US Surgeon General advisories and multiple academic studies have found associations between extended daily use and higher rates of anxiety, depression, sleep disruption, and body image concerns.
Meta, for its part, says it has introduced parental controls, time-management reminders, and youth safety features, and that it tests new features with younger audiences in mind.
As the case moves forward, the debate remains less about screen time alone and more about responsibility. Are these platforms simply tools that some users overuse? Or are they engineered in ways that exploit developing brains?
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(Source | Photo by Priscilla Du Preez 🇨🇦 on Unsplash)
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