Mark Zuckerberg says he cares about wellbeing of kids, wanted to talk to Apple CEO Tim Cook about it

On Wednesday, Meta cofounder and CEO Mark Zuckerberg testified in a US court during a landmark trial that could change how social media platforms function. Zuckerberg insisted that he cared about the wellbeing of teens and kids who use Meta's services. Here are all the details.

For years, many have accused social media platforms of being addictive, or having a negative impact on the wellbeing of young users. Now, Meta cofounder and CEO, Mark Zuckerberg, has testified before a jury in a US court as part of a landmark trial that could change the way these platforms work.

Zuckerberg, whose company, Meta, has the largest user base when it comes to social media, with platforms such as Facebook, Instagram, and Threads, said on Wednesday, that he cared about the wellbeing of kids. Here are all the details.

During his testimony in Los Angeles, Mark Zuckerberg defended his platform Instagram from allegations that it was designed to be addictive, especially for young users.

The defendant's lawyers showed an email exchange between Zuckerberg and Apple CEO Tim Cook from 2018. Mark Zuckerberg stated that this was part of his efforts to potentially work together with Apple in improving the wellbeing of users. He said, “I thought there were opportunities that our company and Apple could be doing and I wanted to talk to Tim about that.”

Additionally, Zuckerberg insisted that he was concerned about the mental health of young users on his platforms. He added, “I care about the wellbeing of teens and kids who are using our services.”

The centre of debate in this trial is the excessive use of social media by teens, and the lack of guardrails to prevent an addiction to these platforms. Mark Zuckerberg confessed that while his company had put age verification systems in place, it could’ve been done quicker. He explained, “I always wish that we could have gotten there sooner.”