Zuckerberg, Spiegel Must Testify at Social Media Addiction Trial

Oct. 20, 2025, 7:32 PM UTC

Meta Platforms Inc. CEO Mark Zuckerberg must testify in California state court in January during the first trial of thousands of cases accusing tech companies of intentionally designing online platforms to addict children.

If the plaintiffs show social media platforms harm users, the knowledge and failure of Zuckerberg, Snap Inc. CEO Evan Spiegel, and Instagram head Adam Mosseri to take steps to prevent those harms would be relevant to establish negligence, California Superior Court, Los Angeles County Judge Carolyn B. Kuhl ruled Monday.

Kuhl rejected the social media companies’ arguments that the apex doctrine—the decades-old idea that ...

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