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Instagram chief Adam Mosseri on Wednesday pushed back on claims the platform is dangerously addictive, reportedly telling jurors in a high-profile Los Angeles trial that using the app is more comparable to binge-watching Netflix than suffering from clinical addiction.
Mosseri, who has led Instagram since 2018, drew a distinction between clinical addiction and what he described as “problematic use,” the New York Post reported.
“I think it’s important to differentiate between clinical addiction and problematic use,” Mosseri said. “I’m sure I said that I’ve been addicted to a Netflix show when I binged it really late one night, but I don’t think it’s the same thing as clinical addiction.”
Mosseri testified as part of a lawsuit brought by a California woman who said she began using Instagram at age 9 and later struggled with depression and body dysmorphia.
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She is suing Meta and Google’s YouTube, alleging the companies knowingly hooked young users despite being aware of potential mental health risks, Reuters reported.
Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg is expected to take the stand in the coming weeks.
The case is widely viewed as a test of federal legal protections that shield social media companies from liability over user-generated content. The outcome could influence hundreds of similar lawsuits across the country, according to Reuters.
Mosseri was also grilled about Instagram’s beauty filters and whether they promote unrealistic appearance standards, the New York Post reported.
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“There’s always a trade-off between safety and speech,” Mosseri said. “We’re trying to be as safe as possible and censor as little as possible.”
Emails from 2019 presented in court show debate over whether to lift a ban on filters that mimic plastic surgery. Instagram’s policy, communications and well-being teams supported keeping the ban in place, Reuters reported.
Mosseri and Zuckerberg supported restoring the filters but removing them from recommendations, an option described internally as posing a “notable well-being risk” while limiting the impact on growth, according to Reuters.
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“I was trying to balance all the different considerations,” Mosseri said.
Meta has said the central question in the case is whether Instagram was a substantial factor in the plaintiff’s mental health struggles.
“The evidence will show she faced many significant, difficult challenges well before she ever used social media,” a Meta spokesperson said Tuesday.
Meta did not immediately respond to FOX Business’ request for comment.
