The head of Instagram has told a court he does not believe people can get clinically addicted to social media.
Adam Mosseri, who has led Instagram since 2018, was testifying during a landmark trial in LA where social media giants are being accused of creating harmful and addictive products.
Read more: Social media goes on trial in LA – here’s what you need to know
He said it was important to differentiate between clinical addiction and what he, and others at Instagram, describe as “problematic use”.
He said he and his colleagues use the term “problematic use” to refer to “someone spending more time on Instagram than they feel good about, and that definitely happens”.
When asked about the plaintiff, a 20-year-old woman known as KGM, spending 16 hours in one day on Instagram, he told the court: “That sounds like problematic use.”
He noted several times that he is not a medical professional.
Mr Mosseri was also quizzed on body image filters that give users the appearance of having plastic surgery.
Meta – the parent company of Instagram and Facebook – banned those filters in 2019, but emails shown in court suggest Mr Mosseri and others at Instagram discussed whether to lift the ban.
Instagram employees working on policy, communictions and well-being, including the former deputy prime minister Nick Clegg, pushed to keep the ban.
“We would – rightly – be accused of putting growth over responsibility,” said Mr Clegg, who was then Meta’s vice president of global affairs, according to the emails.
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