MAP Forum

LOS ANGELES — In his first time testifying about child safety in front of a jury, Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg said the company does not seek to make Instagram addictive to younger users, pushing back against claims that the social media app is designed to be harmful to children.

“I’m focused on building a community that is sustainable,” he said Wednesday when he was asked whether Meta wants people to be addicted to its social media platforms. “If you do something that’s not good for people, maybe they’ll spend more time [on Instagram] short term, but if they’re not happy with it, they’re not going to use it over time. I’m not trying to maximize the amount of time people spend every month.”

Zuckerberg shut down a question about whether he believes people tend to use something more if it’s addictive.

“I’m not sure what to say to that,” he said. “I don’t think that applies here.”

The UK’s online safety and privacy regulators are targeting companies that violate new age verification laws at both ends : Porn sites that did not keep children out, and mainstream platforms that profited from children coming in.

On February 23, media regulator Ofcom fined porn operators that failed to put “highly effective” age checks in place. Within the same 24-hour time frame, the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO)—which is a separate, independent regulatory office—hit Reddit with an $18.2 million fine for unlawfully using children’s personal data for targeted advertising and recommendation systems.​​

Together, the cases show how quickly the UK is moving from guidance and “codes” to very real enforcement for services that don’t take children’s rights seriously.