Instagram on trial for youth mental-health crisis | The Jerusalem Post

By REUTERS FEBRUARY 12, 2026 07:47 Updated: FEBRUARY 12, 2026 07:50 The top executive at Meta Platforms’ Instagram defended the social media platform’s choices regarding features that some company insiders called harmful to young users during a trial over claims that the app helped fuel a youth mental-health crisis. Adam Mosseri, the head of Instagram, testified in Los Angeles as part of a trial on what plaintiffs call “social media addiction” in children and young adults. Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg is also expected to testify in the coming weeks. A California woman who began using Instagram at age nine is suing Meta and Google’s YouTube, saying the companies sought to profit by hooking young children on their services despite knowing social media could harm their mental health. She alleges the platforms contributed to her depression and body dysmorphia. In 2019, Mosseri and others at Instagram were discussing whether to lift a ban on photo filters that mimicked the effects of plastic surgery, according to emails shown in court. Instagram teams working on policy, communications, and well-being preferred to keep the ban in place while gathering more data on potential harms to teen girls. Instagram (credit: Yinon Ben Shushan) “We would
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