The trial against Snapchat and Instagram, accused of causing addiction among young people, begins

Social media Snapchat and Instagram, subsidiaries of Snap, Inc. and Meta Platforms, Inc., respectively, will have to defend themselves in court for the first time after being accused of causing addiction among young people.

The trial against both platforms begins Wednesday. In recent years, both have faced a multitude of lawsuits in local, state and federal courts across the country.

The trial will begin with jury selection and the initial hearings, which will take place between Nov. 4 and mid-December.

Mark Zuckerberg and Evan Spiegel, the top executives of Meta Platforms and Snap, respectively, are expected to be called to testify. Instagram CEO Adam Mosseri will also testify.

This isn't the first time that Instagram and Snapchat have come under fire for creating addiction among young people.

A New Mexico jury had previously found Meta Platforms liable for damages to minors, resulting in a combined penalty of $942 million.

In August, Zuckerberg's tech giant agreed to pay more than $18 billion in fines, in addition to making changes to Instagram and Facebook for teenagers, as part of a settlement with 52 state attorneys general several days after a trial began in California.

"It is not a clinical addiction. It's problematic use"

Mosseri, who is scheduled to testify in this high-profile trial, stated a few months ago that Instagram does not create addiction among young people, but rather that there is "problematic use" due to the number of hours they spend on its platform.

"It is important to distinguish between clinical addiction and problematic use," Mosseri said. "Protecting minors in the long term is actually good for business and for profits. I think it's important for companies, including ours, to ensure that what we produce is safe."