Instagram chief Adam Mosseri testified Tuesday that few teenagers used Instagram’s “Take a Break” feature before Meta made it a default setting for teen users in 2024, as the company defended itself against claims that its platforms were deliberately designed to keep young people engaged despite mental health concerns.
The testimony came during the second week of a federal trial in Oakland, California, involving California, Colorado, Kentucky and New Jersey, four of 29 states that sued Meta in 2023 over child safety and privacy.
The states accuse Meta of contributing to harms among young users and are seeking approximately $200 billion in damages.
Under questioning from Colorado prosecutor Jason Slothouber, Mosseri acknowledged that Take a Break had been used by only a low-single-digit percentage of teenage accounts before becoming a default feature.
He said the company had not publicly disclosed that adoption had reached only about 1 or 2 percent of accounts.
Mosseri rejected the suggestion that Instagram had stalled in making the feature automatic, saying most teenagers had not wanted it and that Meta later proceeded anyway.
Take a Break prompts users to leave the app after spending a certain amount of time scrolling.
Mosseri also argued that the focus on one feature did not reflect Instagram’s broader safety efforts.
Meta has denied seeking to addict children and says its research did not establish a clear link between adolescent social media use and reduced wellbeing.
Former Meta employees have challenged the company’s account of its safety measures.
George Volichenko, who worked on Instagram’s mental well-being team, testified that his team sought to make safety features automatic for younger teenagers but did not receive approval.
He said automatically enabling such tools would have negatively affected core engagement metrics.
Former Meta engineering director Arturo Bejar separately testified that Take a Break was “designed to fail.”
The trial is expected to last about six weeks.
Jurors are expected to deliver an advisory verdict, while US District Judge Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers will determine liability and any civil penalties or required changes to Facebook and Instagram.