Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg mentioned in a Wednesday courtroom testimony that he reached out to Apple CEO Tim Cook dinner to debate the “wellbeing of teenagers and youngsters.”
The feedback got here after the protection lawyer pointed to an e-mail change between Zuckerberg and Cook dinner from February 2018. “I assumed there have been alternatives that our firm and Apple might be doing and I wished to speak to Tim about that,” Zuckerberg mentioned.
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 business’s “Huge 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 title them. The plaintiff’s lawyer questioned Zuckerberg about messages exhibiting he lifted the ban as a result of it was “paternalistic.”
“It feels like one thing I might say and one thing I really feel,” Zuckerberg replied. “It feels just a little overbearing.”
Zuckerberg was pressed in regards to the determination to permit the function when the corporate had steering from specialists that the sweetness filters had damaging results, notably on younger women.
He was particularly requested about one examine by the College of Chicago wherein 18 specialists mentioned that magnificence filters as a function trigger hurt to teenage women.
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 group, and it got here right down to free expression. “I genuinely wish to err on the aspect of giving folks the flexibility to precise themselves,” Zuckerberg mentioned.
Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg arrives at Los Angeles Superior Courtroom on Feb. 18, 2026.
Jill Connelly | Getty Pictures
The trial, which started in late January, facilities on a younger lady who alleged that she grew to become hooked on social media and video streaming apps like Instagram and YouTube.
The Fb founder pushed again towards the notion that the social media firm made rising time spent on Instagram an organization purpose.
Zuckerberg was addressing a 2015 e-mail thread wherein he appeared to spotlight enhancing engagement metrics as an pressing matter for the corporate.
Whereas the e-mail chain might have contained the phrases “firm targets,” Zuckerberg mentioned the feedback might have been an aspiration, and asserted that Meta would not have these goals.
Attorneys later introduced up proof from Instagram chief Adam Mosseri, which included targets to actively up consumer 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 towards opponents and “ship the outcomes we wish 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 kids, in Los Angeles, Feb. 18, 2026.
Frederic J. Brown | AFP | Getty Pictures
Attorneys additionally raised questions over whether or not the corporate has taken satisfactory 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. Attorneys additionally shared a doc which acknowledged that 4 million youngsters below 13 used the platform within the U.S.
The Fb founder mentioned that the corporate removes all underage customers it identifies and contains phrases about age utilization throughout the sign-up course of.
“You count on a 9-year-old to learn the entire superb print,” a lawyer for the plaintiff questioned. “That is your foundation for swearing below oath that kids below 13 are usually 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 fee on its platform for customers who be a part of as tweens. He mentioned legal professionals have been “mischaracterizing” his phrases and that Meta would not at all times launch merchandise in growth equivalent to an Instagram app for customers below 13.
Meta Platforms CEO Mark Zuckerberg testifies at a Los Angeles Superior Courtroom trial in a key take a look at case accusing Meta and Google’s YouTube of harming youngsters’ 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, Choose Carolyn B. Kuhl threatened to carry anybody utilizing AI sensible glasses throughout Zuckerberg’s testimony in contempt of courtroom.
“When you have executed that, you will need to delete that, or you can be held in contempt of the courtroom,” the decide mentioned. “That is very critical.”
Members of the group escorting Zuckerberg into the constructing simply earlier than midday ET have been pictured carrying the Meta Ray-Ban synthetic intelligence glasses.
Recording shouldn’t be allowed within the courtroom.
Attorneys additionally questioned whether or not Zuckerberg beforehand lied in regards to the board’s incapability to fireside him.
If the board needs to fireside me, I might 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 yr, Zuckerberg had mentioned he wasn’t anxious about dropping his job as a result of he holds voting energy.
Zuckerberg advised the courtroom he’s “very dangerous” at media.
Attorneys representing the plaintiff contend that Meta, YouTube, TikTok and Snap misled the general public in regards to the security of their providers and knew that the design of their apps and sure options brought about 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 will be problematic utilization of social media, he would not imagine that is the identical as scientific habit.
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 Pictures
“So it is a private factor, however yeah, I do suppose it is doable 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 one in every of a number of main courtroom circumstances going down this yr that specialists have described because the social media business’s “Huge Tobacco” second due to the alleged hurt brought on by their merchandise and the associated firm efforts to deceive the general public.
Meta can also be concerned in a significant trial in New Mexico, wherein the state’s lawyer common, Raúl Torrez, alleges that the social media large failed to make sure that kids and younger customers are protected from on-line predators.
“What we’re actually alleging is that Meta has created a harmful product, a product that allows not solely the concentrating on of kids, however the exploitation of kids 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 season, one other social media trial is predicted to start within the Northern District of California. That trial additionally entails corporations 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 towards Meta
