Adam Mosseri, the head of Instagram, testified on Tuesday that few teenagers used the platform's "Take a Break" feature before it was made the default setting in September 2024. This testimony came during Meta's trial, which is in its second week, concerning accusations that the company designed its platforms, including Facebook, to be addictive to young people.
Mosseri, who has led Instagram since 2018, denied claims by US states suing Meta that the company intentionally delayed making the feature default for teenagers. "Most teens didn’t want it," Mosseri stated. "We decided to push forward with it anyway."
The lawsuit, brought by 29 US states, is considered by experts to be the most significant legal challenge to date regarding the effects of social media on young users. Four states – California, Colorado, Kentucky, and New Jersey – allege that Meta intentionally designed its platforms to hook young users, contributing to anxiety, depression, and suicidal ideation, while also misleading consumers about the safety of these platforms. All 29 states contend that Meta violated US federal law by improperly collecting and utilizing the personal data of children under 13.
The states are seeking approximately $200 billion in damages from Meta.
Meta has refuted the allegations of intentionally addicting children, asserting that its research has not established a clear link between adolescent social media use and poor well-being.
Under cross-examination by Jason Slothouber, a lawyer representing Colorado, Mosseri acknowledged that the percentage of teenagers who actively used the "Take a Break" feature was in the low single digits before it became the default. This feature encourages teenage users to close the app after a specified period. Mosseri had previously estimated in a December 2021 blog post that over 90 percent of teenagers who enabled the feature kept it active, but this figure pertained only to those who had voluntarily turned it on.
When questioned about whether Meta had disclosed the low adoption rate, which had reached only 1-2 percent of accounts, Mosseri admitted the company had not. However, he noted that safety features were later made default in Teen Accounts, which were introduced in 2024 and include parental controls.
Former Meta employees have suggested that features like "Take a Break" and "Quiet Mode" were difficult to locate and not widely adopted, raising doubts about the company's commitment to limiting screen time for young users. Arturo Bejar, a former Meta engineering director, testified last week that, in his experience, "Take a Break" was "a feature that’s designed to fail." George Volichenko, a data scientist who worked on safety features at Instagram between 2022 and 2023, stated on Monday that adoption rates for such features were "very low" and that company leadership had rejected proposals to make "Quiet Mode" the default for younger teenagers. He further indicated that automatically enabling these features would have had a "notable negative impact" on user engagement.
The trial is expected to last six weeks. Jurors will provide an advisory verdict, after which US District Judge Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers will determine Meta's liability and any associated civil penalties or required changes to Facebook and Instagram.
