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Instagram head Adam Mosseri admitted in a California court on Tuesday that Meta promoted teen safety tools without revealing their low adoption rates during early testing.
Testifying in a landmark lawsuit brought by 29 US states, Mosseri acknowledged the company failed to disclose that features like Take a Break and Quiet Mode initially reached only 1 to 2 per cent of users.
A coalition of states accuses Meta of designing addictive algorithms to trap young users while misleading the public.
During cross-examination, state attorneys presented internal documents showing that Take a Break reached an adoption rate of just 1.8 per cent, while Quiet Mode reached 8.7 per cent.
Former Meta employees testified earlier in the trial that leadership deliberately hindered adoption by refusing to enable these controls by default, fearing default settings would reduce user engagement and ad revenue.
“This is one feature with a disappointingly low usage rate which since this time has significantly improved,” Mosseri countered, noting that Meta later made these protections automatic with the 2024 launch of Teen Accounts.
The trial continues on Wednesday as state prosecutors push for around $200 billion in financial penalties.
If the court finds Meta liable, the verdict could force fundamental changes to the tech giant’s business model and redefine corporate liability across the social media industry.
