Los Angeles, 12 February 2026: A historic legal battle is currently being waged against social media giants in Los Angeles, America. During this hearing, Instagram head Adam Mosseri made a sensational statement in the court saying that he does not agree that people become ‘clinically addicted’ to social media. In this case, Meta (parent company of Facebook-Instagram) and Google’s YouTube are the main accused. It is noteworthy that companies like TikTok and Snapchat have already reached an agreement on this matter. The settlement of this case is likely to impact thousands of other such cases in the future.

The cases of three people, including a 20-year-old girl named ‘KGM’, have been taken as ‘test cases’ in the court. The serious allegation of the victims’ families is that social media companies have created such algorithms and features which keep children constantly glued to the app. Due to this addiction, the incidence of depression, anxiety and other mental illnesses is increasing among teenagers. Beauty filters create hypothyroidism among the youth regarding their body, due to which the craze like plastic surgery increases.

During cross-examination in court, Adam Mosseri had argued that excessive use of something and its medical addiction are two different things. He admitted that many people spend more time than necessary on Instagram and later suffer from depression, but it cannot be termed as a ‘medical illness’. When the plaintiff’s lawyer presented his old interviews, Mosseri defended himself by saying, “Earlier I used these words in normal conversation, but now I am more careful in choosing my words.”

During the hearing, when filters and the mental condition of teenagers were discussed, some of the parents present became emotional. Seeing the situation, the judge had warned the parents to remain calm and maintain restraint. Meta company claims that they have added many new features for the safety of teenagers and have also stopped third-party AR filters from January 2025. However, researchers say that inappropriate sexual content and suicide inducing content are still suggested on ‘teen accounts’. The company has termed all these allegations as baseless.

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