By Samantha Delouya, Clare Duffy, CNN
Los Angeles (CNN) — Adam Mosseri, the head of Instagram, testified on Wednesday that he does not think users can be “clinically addicted” to the social media app.
Mosseri is the first executive to testify in the landmark social media addiction trial against YouTube and Instagram parent company Meta, in which a now-20-year-old woman alleges the companies intentionally developed addictive features to hook young users, which she claims harmed her mental health.
The lawsuit is the first of more than 1,500 similar cases to go to trial and could serve as a test of whether the social media giants can be held responsible for claims that they’ve harmed young users’ mental health.
Mark Lanier, a lawyer for the plaintiff, questioned Mosseri on Wednesday about whether Instagram chooses profits over the health and safety of minors and whether Mosseri oversees an app that hooks younger users.
Mosseri said that he didn’t think that it was possible to be addicted to Instagram but that “problematic use” was possible, though it varies from person to person. Mosseri compared it to watching “watching TV for longer than you feel good about.”
“It’s relative,” he said. “Yes, for an individual, there’s a such thing as using Instagram more than you feel good about.”
Mosseri became head of Instagram in 2018 after joining the company then known as Facebook in 2008.
In 2021, Facebook whistleblower Frances Haugen leaked a trove of internal documents indicating the company knew Instagram could have a “toxic” effect on teen girls. The same year, CNN reported that Instagram promoted accounts encouraging extreme dieting and eating disorders to teen users. The company acknowledged at the time that those accounts violated its rules.
Mosseri told a Senate committee in December 2021 that he was in favor of greater online safety regulation but also “committed” to making the platform safe, even if parents didn’t use parental control tools.
Instagram has since rolled out additional safety and well-being features, most notably “teen accounts,” which apply default content restrictions and privacy protections for teen users. Meta has previously said “we strongly disagree” with the allegations in Kaley’s lawsuit.
The plaintiff, who is being referred to as Kaley, began using Instagram at the age of nine, according to Lanier, although the app’s minimum age is 13. (Instagram has more recently begun rolling out AI age verification technology to identify younger users who sign up with an inaccurate birthdate, although the technology’s accuracy is unclear.)
Lanier, in his opening statement Monday, called out features such as “infinite scroll and autoplay” and the “like” button, which Lanier equated to a “chemical hit” that teens looking for validation from their peers grow to crave. Ka