Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg mentioned in a Wednesday court docket testimony that he reached out to Apple CEO Tim Cook dinner to debate the “wellbeing of teenagers and children.”
The feedback got here after the protection lawyer pointed to an e mail trade between Zuckerberg and Cook dinner from February 2018. “I believed there have been alternatives that our firm and Apple might be doing and I needed to speak to Tim about that,” Zuckerberg mentioned.
The e-mail trade was a part of a broader portrayal by the protection lawyer to point out jury members that Zuckerberg was extra proactive concerning the security of younger Instagram customers than what was beforehand offered to court docket by the opposing counsel, going as far as to succeed in out to a company rival.
“I care concerning the wellbeing of teenagers and children who’re utilizing our providers,” Zuckerberg mentioned when characterizing a number of the content material of the e-mail.
Zuckerberg testified throughout a landmark trial in Los Angeles Superior Courtroom over the query of social media and security, which is being likened to the trade’s “Large Tobacco” second.
A part of the trial centered on the alleged harms of sure digital filters.
Zuckerberg mentioned that the corporate consulted with varied stakeholders about the usage of magnificence filters on Instagram, however he didn’t identify them. The plaintiff’s lawyer questioned Zuckerberg about messages displaying he lifted the ban as a result of it was “paternalistic.”
“It appears like one thing I might say and one thing I really feel,” Zuckerberg replied. “It feels slightly overbearing.”
Zuckerberg was pressed concerning the resolution to permit the function when the corporate had steerage from consultants that the wonder filters had detrimental results, notably on younger ladies.
He was particularly requested about one research by the College of Chicago wherein 18 consultants mentioned that magnificence filters as a function trigger hurt to teenage ladies.
Zuckerberg, who famous that he believed this was referring to so-called beauty surgical procedure filters, mentioned he noticed that suggestions and mentioned with the workforce, and it got here all the way down to free expression. “I genuinely need to err on the aspect of giving folks the power to specific themselves,” Zuckerberg mentioned.
Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg arrives at Los Angeles Superior Courtroom on Feb. 18, 2026.
Jill Connelly | Getty Photographs
The trial, which started in late January, facilities on a younger girl who alleged that she turned hooked on social media and video streaming apps like Instagram and YouTube.
The Fb founder pushed again in opposition to the notion that the social media firm made growing time spent on Instagram an organization objective.
Zuckerberg was addressing a 2015 e mail thread wherein he appeared to focus on enhancing engagement metrics as an pressing matter for the corporate.
Whereas the e-mail chain could have contained the phrases “firm objectives,” Zuckerberg mentioned the feedback may have been an aspiration, and asserted that Meta would not have these goals.
Legal professionals later introduced up proof from Instagram chief Adam Mosseri, which included objectives to actively up person every day engagement time on the platform to 40 minutes in 2023 and to 46 minutes in 2026.
Zuckerberg mentioned the corporate makes use of milestones internally to measure in opposition to opponents and “ship the outcomes we need to see.” He asserted that the corporate is constructing providers to assist folks join.
Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg arrives at Los Angeles Superior Courtroom forward of the social media trial tasked to find out whether or not social media giants intentionally designed their platforms to be addictive to youngsters, in Los Angeles, Feb. 18, 2026.
Frederic J. Brown | AFP | Getty Photographs
Legal professionals additionally raised questions over whether or not the corporate has taken sufficient steps to take away underage customers from its platform.
Zuckerberg mentioned throughout his testimony that some customers lie about their age when signing up for Instagram, which requires customers to be 13 or older. Legal professionals additionally shared a doc which acknowledged that 4 million children beneath 13 used the platform within the U.S.
The Fb founder mentioned that the corporate removes all underage customers it identifies and consists of phrases about age utilization through the sign-up course of.
“You count on a 9-year-old to learn the entire wonderful print,” a lawyer for the plaintiff questioned. “That is your foundation for swearing beneath oath that youngsters beneath 13 should not allowed?”
Instagram didn’t start requiring birthdays at sign-up till late 2019.
Zuckerberg later responded to questions on paperwork wherein the corporate reported a better retention charge on its platform for customers who be a part of as tweens. He mentioned attorneys had been “mischaracterizing” his phrases and that Meta would not all the time launch merchandise in improvement akin to an Instagram app for customers beneath 13.
Meta Platforms CEO Mark Zuckerberg testifies at a Los Angeles Superior Courtroom trial in a key check case accusing Meta and Google’s YouTube of harming children’ psychological well being by way of addictive platforms, in Los Angeles, California, U.S., Feb. 18, 2026 in a courtroom sketch.
Mona Edwards | Reuters
Throughout Wednesday’s session, Decide Carolyn B. Kuhl threatened to carry anybody utilizing AI good glasses throughout Zuckerberg’s testimony in contempt of court docket.
“In case you have performed that, you have to delete that, or you may be held in contempt of the court docket,” the decide mentioned. “That is very severe.”
Members of the workforce escorting Zuckerberg into the constructing simply earlier than midday ET had been pictured sporting the Meta Ray-Ban synthetic intelligence glasses.
Recording will not be allowed within the courtroom.
Legal professionals additionally questioned whether or not Zuckerberg beforehand lied concerning the board’s incapacity to fireplace him.
If the board desires to fireplace me, I may elect a brand new board and reinstate myself,” he mentioned, in response to remarks he beforehand made on Joe Rogan’s podcast.
Throughout his interview with the podcaster final 12 months, Zuckerberg had mentioned he wasn’t nervous about shedding his job as a result of he holds voting energy.
Zuckerberg advised the courtroom he’s “very unhealthy” at media.
Legal professionals representing the plaintiff contend that Meta, YouTube, TikTok and Snap misled the general public concerning the security of their providers and knew that the design of their apps and sure options brought on psychological well being harms to younger customers.
Snap and TikTok settled with the plaintiff concerned within the case earlier than the trial started.
Meta has denied the allegations and a spokesperson advised CNBC in a press release that “the query for the jury in Los Angeles is whether or not Instagram was a considerable issue within the plaintiff’s psychological well being struggles.”
Final week, Instagram’s Mosseri testified that whereas he thinks there could be problematic utilization of social media, he would not consider that is the identical as medical dependancy.
Adam Mosseri, head of Instagram at Meta Platforms Inc., arrives at Los Angeles Superior Courtroom in Los Angeles, California, US, on Wednesday, Feb. 11, 2026.
Caroline Brehman | Bloomberg | Getty Photographs
“So it is a private factor, however yeah, I do suppose it is potential to make use of Instagram greater than you be ok with,” Mosseri mentioned. “An excessive amount of is relative, it is private.”
The Los Angeles trial is certainly one of a number of main court docket instances happening this 12 months that consultants have described because the social media trade’s “Large Tobacco” second due to the alleged hurt attributable to their merchandise and the associated firm efforts to deceive the general public.
Mother and father of youngsters who they allege suffered from detrimental results of social media outdoors the courthouse in Los Angeles on Wednesday, Feb 18.
Jonathan Vanian
Meta can also be concerned in a serious trial in New Mexico, wherein the state’s lawyer basic, Raúl Torrez, alleges that the social media big failed to make sure that youngsters and younger customers are secure from on-line predators.
“What we’re actually alleging is that Meta has created a harmful product, a product that permits not solely the concentrating on of youngsters, however the exploitation of youngsters in digital areas and in the actual world,” Torrez advised CNBC’s “Squawk Field” final week when opening arguments for the trial started.
This summer time, one other social media trial is predicted to start within the Northern District of California. That trial additionally entails firms like Meta and YouTube and allegations that their respective apps include flaws that foster detrimental psychological well being points in younger customers.
WATCH: New Mexico AG Raul Torrez talks about his case in opposition to Meta
