"Mark Lanier, a Texas trial lawyer and pastor with a folksy courtroom demeanor, directed Zuckerberg's attention to a 2020 internal Meta document showing that 11-year-olds were four times as likely to keep coming back to Facebook, compared to older users. Instagram's minimum age for signing up is 13. "People who join Facebook at 11 years old?" Lanier asked Zuckerberg. "I thought y'all didn't have any of those?" Lanier then went over Meta internal documents highlighting how about 30% of 10- to 12-year-olds were using Instagram. The company had a goal to increase the time 10-year-olds spend on Instagram, another document showed."
""That's not what I'm saying at all," said the tech billionaire. "I think you're misunderstanding what I'm saying," Zuckerberg responded. "You're mischaracterizing what I'm saying," he shot back."
"One 2018 internal Meta document stated "If we wanna win big with teens, we must bring them in as tweens," Lanier pointed out, saying that undercut Meta's own policies. The legal team representing the plaintiff, a 20-year-old California woman known in court documents as "Kaley," attempted to demonstrate that the top-down goal of Meta has always been to encourage users to get on their platforms as young as possible, and once there, to figure out ways to keep them around."
Mark Zuckerberg testified before a jury in Los Angeles in a trial accusing Meta of designing Instagram features to addict children. Internal Meta documents presented in court showed 11-year-olds were four times as likely to return to Facebook and that about 30% of 10- to 12-year-olds were using Instagram despite a 13+ signup age. Documents revealed goals to increase time spent by 10-year-olds and a 2018 note stating that winning with teens required bringing them in as tweens. The plaintiff's legal team argued that Meta pursued a top-down strategy to recruit younger users and retain them on its platforms.
Read at Georgia Public Broadcasting
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