Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg on Wednesday confessed he was “pretty bad” at portraying himself as “human” and “relatable,” admitting he tended to come off as “fake” and “cheesy” while testifying in court for the first time ever about Facebook’s alleged tendency to addict young users – which he denied.
The tech mogul pushed back strongly during questioning by attorney Mark Lanier, who is representing the plaintiff, a 20-year-old woman identified in legal filings only as “KGM,” seemingly contradicting prior testimony before Congress in which he insisted Meta did not set internal targets to ensure users spent as much time as possible on its platforms.
“If you are trying to say my testimony was not accurate, I strongly disagree with that,” Zuckerberg testified.
The landmark trial in Los Angeles Superior Court has been described as social media’s “Big Tobacco” moment, in which the industry will be at long last held to account for knowingly causing harm.
Lanier said in his opening statement nine days ago that KGM started using YouTube, which is owned by Meta, at age 6, and Instagram, which is also owned by Meta, at age 9. Before she reached high school, KGM had posted nearly 300 videos online, Lanier said.
KGM, now 20, brought her lawsuit against Meta in July 2023. Her mother tried to stop her from accessing social media, using a third-party app blocker, but KGM was able to get around it, her suit said.
It claimed that KGM was enticed into using Meta products 24 hours a day, developing an addiction of sorts. Further, Meta allegedly connected KGM with predatory adults she never would have met in real life, leading her to depression and acts of self-harm, according to the suit.
KGM’s lawsuit said her social media use has caused depression and suicidal ideation.
“In fact, it took KGM’s friends and family spamming and asking other Instagram users to report the persons targeting minor KGM for a two-week period before Meta did anything about the abuses, violation of terms and illegal conduct of which it, by then, had full knowledge,”’ the suit said
Last week, Instagram head Adam Mosseri testified that he did not think people could become clinically “addicted” to social media. (Instagram is owned by Meta.)
The lawsuit brought by KGM, who lives in Chico, California, is widely considered to be a test case among more than 1,500 others that have been filed against social media companies. If KGM is successful, her victory could set a precedent holding tech companies liable for designing addictive products that hook young users and foment negative mental health outcomes.
Zuckerberg said on Wednesday that those under the age of 13 have never been allowed on Meta’s platforms, even though KGM said she started using the company’s offerings years earlier.
“I generally think that there are a set of people, potentially a meaningful number of people, who lie about their age in order to use our services,” Zuckerberg testified. “There’s a separate and very important question about enforcement, and it’s very difficult.”
“You expect a 9-year-old to read all of the fine print?” Zuckerberg was asked. “That’s your basis for swearing under oath that children under 13 are not allowed?”
Meta started asking users for their birthdates in late 2019.
Two-thirds of Americans have an unfavorable view of Zuckerberg, according to a February 2025 poll by the Pew Research Center, with just two percent saying they have “very favorable” feelings about him.
As Zuckerberg was about to pass through a metal detector at the courthouse on Wednesday, a security guard asked if he had any metal on him.
“I have a gold chain on,” he replied, according to the New York Post.
Zuckerberg’s testimony on Wednesday was the first time he has answered questions under oath about social media and child safety.
A Meta spokesperson told NBC News that the “evidence will show [KGM] faced many significant, difficult challenges well before she ever used social media.”
On Wednesday, Zuckerberg insisted he was “focused on building a community that is sustainable.”
“If you do something that’s not good for people, maybe they’ll spend more time [on the platform] short term, but if they’re not happy with it, they’re not going to use it over time,” he argued. “I’m not trying to maximize the amount of time people spend every month.”
Zuckerberg’s testimony has been a long time coming, according to attorney Matt Bergman of the Social Media Victims Law Center, which is representing more than 1,000 plaintiffs in proceedings against Meta.
“For the first time, a Meta CEO will have to sit before a jury, under oath, and explain why the company released a product its own safety teams warned were addictive and harmful to children,” Bergman said ahead of Zuckerberg’s appearance. “They deserve the truth about what company executives knew. And they deserve accountability from the people who chose growth and engagement over the safety of their children.”
Zuckerberg has faced criticism for cozying up to President Donald Trump as the twice-impeached former president took office again in 2025, donating $1 million to the two-time president’s inauguration fund.
