{"id":907,"date":"2026-02-18T15:15:37","date_gmt":"2026-02-18T21:15:37","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.paymentconsulting.net\/Blog\/wordpress\/?p=907"},"modified":"2026-02-18T15:15:37","modified_gmt":"2026-02-18T21:15:37","slug":"zuckerberg-set-to-testify-in-watershed-social-media-trial","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.paymentconsulting.net\/Blog\/wordpress\/?p=907","title":{"rendered":"Zuckerberg Set to Testify in Watershed Social Media Trial"},"content":{"rendered":"
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\"Zuckerberg<\/div>\n
Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg attends the WSJ Innovator Awards in New York on October 29, 2025. (Angela Weiss\/Getty Images)<\/div>\n
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Wednesday, 18 February 2026 07:03 AM EST<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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Mark Zuckerberg will testify in an unprecedented social media trial that questions whether Meta\u2019s platforms deliberately addict and harm children.<\/p>\n

Urgent:\u00a0<\/strong>Former Trump Banking Adviser’s Scary Warning for Americans…\u00a0See Now<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

Meta\u2019s CEO is expected to answer tough questions Wednesday from attorneys representing a now 20-year-old woman identified by the initials KGM, who claims her early use of social media addicted her to the technology and exacerbated depression and suicidal thoughts.<\/p>\n

Meta Platforms and Google\u2019s YouTube are the two remaining defendants in the case, which TikTok and Snap have settled.<\/p>\n

Zuckerberg has testified in other trials and answered questions from Congress about youth safety on Meta\u2019s platforms, and he apologized to families at that hearing whose lives had been upended by tragedies they believed were because of social media.<\/p>\n

This trial, though, marks the first time Zuckerberg will answer similar questions in front of a jury. and, again, bereaved parents are expected to be in the limited courtroom seats available to the public.<\/p>\n

The case, along with two others, has been selected as a bellwether trial, meaning its outcome could impact how thousands of similar lawsuits against social media companies would play out.<\/p>\n

A Meta spokesperson said the company strongly disagrees with the allegations in the lawsuit and said they are \u201cconfident the evidence will show our longstanding commitment to supporting young people.\u201d<\/p>\n

One of Meta\u2019s attorneys, Paul Schmidt, said in his opening statement that the company is not disputing that KGM experienced mental health struggles, but rather that Instagram played a substantial factor in those struggles.<\/p>\n

Schmidt pointed to medical records that showed a turbulent home life, and both he and an attorney representing YouTube argue she turned to their platforms as a coping mechanism or a means of escaping her mental health struggles.<\/p>\n

Zuckerberg\u2019s testimony comes a week after that of Adam Mosseri, the head of Meta\u2019s Instagram, who said in the courtroom that he disagrees with the idea that people can be clinically addicted to social media platforms.<\/p>\n

Mosseri maintained that Instagram works hard to protect young people using the service, and said it\u2019s \u201cnot good for the company, over the long run, to make decisions that profit for us but are poor for people\u2019s well-being.\u201d<\/p>\n

Much of Mosseri\u2019s questioning from the plaintiff\u2019s lawyer, Mark Lanier, centered on cosmetic filters on Instagram that changed people\u2019s appearance \u2014 a topic that Lanier is sure to revisit with Zuckerberg.<\/p>\n

He is also expected to face questions about Instagram\u2019s algorithm, the infinite nature of Meta\u2019 feeds and other features the plaintiffs argue are designed to get users hooked.<\/p>\n

Meta is also facing a separate trial in New Mexico that began last week.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Copyright 2026 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without permission.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg attends the WSJ Innovator Awards in New York on October 29, 2025. (Angela Weiss\/Getty Images) Wednesday, 18 February 2026 07:03 AM EST Mark Zuckerberg will testify in an unprecedented social media trial that questions whether Meta\u2019s platforms deliberately addict and harm children. Urgent:\u00a0Former Trump Banking Adviser’s Scary Warning for Americans…\u00a0See Now … Continue reading Zuckerberg Set to Testify in Watershed Social Media Trial<\/span> →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-907","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news-update"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.paymentconsulting.net\/Blog\/wordpress\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/907","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.paymentconsulting.net\/Blog\/wordpress\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.paymentconsulting.net\/Blog\/wordpress\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.paymentconsulting.net\/Blog\/wordpress\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.paymentconsulting.net\/Blog\/wordpress\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=907"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.paymentconsulting.net\/Blog\/wordpress\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/907\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":908,"href":"https:\/\/www.paymentconsulting.net\/Blog\/wordpress\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/907\/revisions\/908"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.paymentconsulting.net\/Blog\/wordpress\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=907"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.paymentconsulting.net\/Blog\/wordpress\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=907"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.paymentconsulting.net\/Blog\/wordpress\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=907"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}