Meta knew that its safeguards designed to protect teenagers on Instagram were largely ineffective, witnesses told a California court, where 29 US states are accusing the social media company of misleading the public about the platform’s risks.
The case centres on allegations that Meta deliberately designed its products to keep children engaged and collect their data while downplaying the dangers associated with its platforms, reports AFP.
The trial, which entered its second week on Monday, is expected to continue until late September. Meta has more than three billion users worldwide.
Internal Meta documents presented to jurors showed that adoption of Instagram’s “Take a Break” feature, which allows users to set reminders to stop scrolling, stood at 1.8 per cent. “Quiet Mode”, which silences late-night notifications, had an adoption rate of 8.7 per cent.
During questioning by lawyers representing the states on Tuesday, Francesco Fogu, Meta’s director of product design at Instagram, said he could not confirm the figures. However, he acknowledged that the company “knew adoption rates would be lower” when the safety tools were not enabled by default.
Judge Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers, who will decide the case while using the jury’s verdict as guidance, appeared surprised that Fogu was unaware of the internal data.
The states are seeking about $200 billion in penalties from Meta. A loss in court could force major changes to the company’s business model and have wider implications for the social media industry.
Fogu was at times combative during questioning by a lawyer for the states. When asked whether Meta wanted to prevent certain data from being made public, he responded: “Who’s Meta? Me?”
Two former Meta employees also testified that Take a Break and Quiet Mode were ineffective.
Arturo Bejar, a former Meta engineering director, testified last week: “In my experience, ‘Take a Break’ is a feature that’s designed to fail.”
George Volichenko, a data scientist who worked on safety features at Instagram in 2022 and 2023, told the court on Monday that adoption rates for the features were “very low and disappointing” and just “a drop in the ocean.”
Volichenko said Meta’s leadership showed little interest in significantly increasing their use. He testified that leadership did not approve turning on Quiet Mode by default for younger teenagers, limiting adoption because the setting was difficult to find within the app.
Enabling the safety features by default would have caused a “notable negative impact” on user engagement, Volichenko said.
Meta’s business model relies on advertising revenue, meaning the company earns more when users spend more time on its apps.
Instagram head Adam Mosseri is expected to testify on Tuesday afternoon. Founder and CEO Mark Zuckerberg is also expected to take the stand, according to court documents.
