Meta Boss Mark Zuckerberg on the Stand: 'I Care About the Wellbeing of Teens and Kids'

Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg told a Los Angeles court on Wednesday that he cares “about the wellbeing of teens and kids.” The Big Tech mastermind whose platforms have notoriously censored conservatives including President Donald Trump added, “I genuinely want to err on the side of giving people the ability to express themselves.”

CNBC reports that Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg took the witness stand on Wednesday in a landmark social media safety trial in Los Angeles Superior Court, revealing that he had contacted Apple CEO Tim Cook in 2018 to discuss youth safety concerns on social media platforms.

During his testimony, defense attorney Paul Schmidt presented an email exchange between Zuckerberg and Cook from February 2018. Zuckerberg explained his reasoning for reaching out to the Apple executive, stating, “I thought there were opportunities that our company and Apple could be doing and I wanted to talk to Tim about that.” He added, “I care about the wellbeing of teens and kids who are using our services.”

A significant portion of the trial has focused on Instagram’s controversial beauty and cosmetic surgery filters, popular with teenage users. Zuckerberg testified that Meta consulted with various stakeholders about these filters but did not provide specific names. When questioned about messages showing he lifted a ban on beauty filters because it was “paternalistic,” Zuckerberg responded, “It sounds like something I would say and something I feel. It feels a little overbearing.”

The plaintiff’s lawyer pressed Zuckerberg about allowing the feature despite expert guidance indicating beauty filters had negative effects on young girls. When asked about a University of Chicago study in which 18 experts said beauty filters cause harm to teenage girls, Zuckerberg said he saw the feedback and discussed it with his team, but ultimately decided in favor of free expression. “I genuinely want to err on the side of giving people the ability to express themselves,” Zuckerberg said.

Zuckerberg’s assertion that his personal commitment is to “giving people the ability to express themselves” in peculiar given the company’s long history of censoring conservatives, extensively documented by Breitbart News.

The Meta founder also pushed back against claims that increasing time spent on Instagram was a company goal. While addressing a 2015 email thread where he appeared to highlight improving engagement metrics as urgent, Zuckerberg said the comments could have been aspirational and asserted that Meta doesn’t have such objectives. However, lawyers presented evidence from Mosseri showing goals to increase daily user engagement time to 40 minutes in 2023 and 46 minutes in 2026.

Zuckerberg explained that the company uses milestones internally to measure against competitors and “deliver the results we want to see,” asserting that Meta is building services to help people connect.

In an unusual moment during the court session, Judge Carolyn B. Kuhl threatened to hold anyone using AI smart glasses during Zuckerberg’s testimony in contempt of court. “If you have done that, you must delete that, or you will be held in contempt of the court. This is very serious,” the judge said. Members of Zuckerberg’s escort team were photographed wearing Meta Ray-Ban AI glasses. Recording is not permitted in the courtroom.

Lawyers also questioned whether Zuckerberg previously lied about the board’s inability to fire him. He responded, “If the board wants to fire me, I could elect a new board and reinstate myself,” referencing remarks he made on Joe Rogan’s podcast about his voting power. Zuckerberg told the courtroom he is “very bad” at media.

In a statement to Breitbart News, Meta reinforced its commitment to supporting young users:

We strongly disagree with these allegations and are confident the evidence will show our longstanding commitment to supporting young people. For over a decade, we’ve listened to parents, worked with experts and law enforcement, and conducted in-depth research to understand the issues that matter most. We use these insights to make meaningful changes—like introducing Teen Accounts with built-in protections and providing parents with tools to manage their teens’ experiences. We’re proud of the progress we’ve made, and we’re always working to do better.