Mark Zuckerberg, Meta CEO, defends “Instagram” as not being a social media tool that results in addiction. In the Los Angeles courtroom, the lawyers reaffirm that Meta is committed to Teen mental Health safety. Other than Meta platforms, Google’s YouTube has also been accused of imaoctung mental health and safety of teenagers. While Snapchat and TikTok have been able to defend themselves. In the courtroom is was stated that there is no scientific evidence that reports meta platforms to be addictive in nature, causing mental health issues.
It’s a social media tool that gives an individual a platform to not only network with friends, family, acquaintances, and colleagues, but also with online friends or strangers. One can share stories, posts and reels about their life with people across the globe. Currently, as per policy, a 13-year-old individual can use Instagram under parental guidance. This gives responsibility to the parents for supervising the content seen by the children and adolescents.
Read More: The Constant Need to be Active on Social Media Platforms
Is Instagram really addictive?
In the ongoing courtroom trial, the focus is on whether Meta’s platforms purposefully lead children to addiction. Zuckerberg gave neutral answers to all the questions, such as when asked “if something is addictive, do people tend to use it more?” To this, Mark replied, “I don’t think it’s applicable here”. Another question that was asked to Mark was what people can do regarding vulnerable people, giving him three options: first, help them, second, ignore them and third, use them for their own benefits. To this, he responded that though the third one is beneficial for companies, he would go with the first one.
In a study conducted in university studies of Bangalore in 2018, 38.9% users were addicted to social media. The most common problems faced by them are eye strain, sleep disturbances, and anger issues. Social media addiction was found in one-third of the participants.
Read More: Social Media Addiction Among Children and how to deal with it
Cases Discussed
A 20-year-old woman’s KGM (initials used for identity confidentiality) reports that an addiction to technology and early exposure to social media usage led to aggravation of anxiety and suicidal thoughts. However, the organisation has shown evidence of persistent family issues, because of which the women turned to social media as a coping mechanism. Thus, openingly stating that the company is not responsible for her mental health struggles.
Goals of Meta
In the past hearings of the court, it has been highlighted that one of the major targets a Meta employee has to fulfil is increasing the amount of time spent by an individual on the platform. It was stated that previously, it was a goal. However, the company made a conscious choice to focus on utility, as per Zuckerberg. The belief was that if people think something is valuable to them, they will use it more as it’s useful for them. The change in the statement was made when contradictory documents were shown in the court.
Was Zuckerberg questioned about being Robotic?
There has been an exhaustive debate between the lawyer and Mark on whether, during media presence, his voice and appearance are real or fake, coming from a training. An internal document was shown in court that claimed Zuckerberg’s voice to be “fake, robotic, corporate” rather than being “authentic, direct, human, and insightful”. To this, Mark responded that he has been coached on how to present himself and respond to questions. Also, he accepted that he is “sort of bad” at public speaking. In 2010, he was mocked online for appearing robotic during an interview. It was with Karan Swisher and Walter Mossberg, renowned tech Journalists in which he was asked to take off his hoodie if he wished, observing that he was nervous and sweating.
Issues with Meta platforms
During the testimonies, various questions have been put on Meta platforms with respect to usefulness. This includes the age policy, beauty filters and Youth Safety.
1. Age Debate
An extensive debate took place on Meta’s platforms’ age-verification policies. Zuckerberg, in his defence, stated that it’s very simple: individuals under the age of 13 are restricted from using the platform. A bypass restriction is used to detect people who lie about their age.
This has been a long-standing debate, as those over 13 years of age can use the platforms under their supervision. However, caregivers and parents are not yet trained to supervise their children and adolescents. Many are unaware of the use of various Meta platforms. This leads to cybercrime, cyberbullying, children and adolescents viewing adulterated content which is not age-appropriate, etc.
2. Beauty Filters
Meta has given users cosmetic beauty filters specially on Instagram. The filter changes the body parts and face of the individual to stereotype beauty standards, creating issues such as body image. However, a lack of evidence was pointed out by Zuckerberg in this aspect.
3. Youth Safety
Through time, and then Meta platforms and Zuckerberg have claimed that safety is their foremost goal. In 2024, during congressional testimony, the CEO apologised to families in which tragedies were believed to be caused by social media. But he refrained from taking direct responsibility as bereaved parents sat in the courtroom audience. This case has been marked as a “bellwether trial,” meaning that its outcome would impact thousands of similar social media companies.
