Meta’s Instagram safety tools for teens were largely ineffective, witnesses say

Meta knew some of its Instagram safety features for teenagers were barely being used and had limited impact, witnesses have told a California trial that could result in up to $200 billion in penalties for the social media company.

The testimony came as 29 US states accuse Meta of deliberately making Instagram addictive to young users while misleading the public about the risks and failing to adequately protect children. 

The trial, now in its second week, is expected to continue until late September.

Internal documents presented to jurors showed that Instagram’s Take a Break feature was used by only 1.8% of users, while Quiet Mode, which turns off late-night notifications, had an adoption rate of 8.7%.

Francesco Fogu, Meta’s director of product design at Instagram, said during questioning that he could not confirm those figures. 

However, he acknowledged that Meta knew adoption would be lower when the safety features were not automatically enabled.

Former Instagram data scientist George Volichenko also told the court that the use of the tools was “very low and disappointing”.

He said Meta leadership had decided against automatically enabling Quiet Mode for younger teenagers because doing so could have a negative effect on user engagement.

Another former Meta employee, Arturo Bejar, previously testified that Take a Break was not effective in practice.

The evidence has focused on whether Meta could have made the safety tools more widely used but chose not to because of concerns about keeping users engaged. 

Meta‍‍`s business depends heavily on advertising revenue, which increases as people spend more time on its platforms.

Judge Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers, who will ultimately decide the case while considering the jury’s verdict as guidance, appeared surprised when Fogu said he was unaware of some of the internal figures presented in court.

The states argue that Meta‍‍`s products were designed to keep children and teenagers engaged for longer periods while collecting their data. 

Meta has rejected the allegations.

The case could have major consequences for Meta if the company loses, potentially forcing changes to how its platforms are designed and operated.

Instagram head Adam Mosseri is expected to testify, while court documents also indicate that Meta founder and CEO Mark Zuckerberg is expected to take the stand.