Meta boss Mark Zuckerberg has arrived at court in California in an ill-fitting suit as he prepares to take the stand in a landmark social media addiction trial.
Zuckerberg, 41, arrived at Los Angeles Superior Court in an oversized navy suit that appears to be straight off the rack.
It has not been tailored to fit the billionaire, with some critics comparing it to an oversized suit a second grader would be forced to wear to church.
The social media tycoon was flanked by his attorney Paul Schmidt, who sported a deadpan expression as he walked in with a disposable Starbucks coffee.
Zuckerberg appeared calm and collected, and even offered the cameras the smallest hint of a smile as he walked into the courthouse.
The Meta CEO is expected to answer tough questions on Wednesday from attorneys representing a now 20-year-old woman identified by the initials KGM, who claims her early use of social media addicted her to the technology and exacerbated depression and suicidal thoughts.
Meta Platforms and Google’s YouTube are the two remaining defendants in the case, which TikTok and Snap have settled.
Zuckerberg has testified in other trials and answered questions from Congress about youth safety on Meta’s platforms, and he apologized to families at that hearing whose lives had been upended by tragedies they believed were because of social media.
This trial, though, marks the first time Zuckerberg will answer similar questions in front of a jury, with bereaved parents expected to be in the limited courtroom seats available to the public.
The case, along with two others, has been selected as a bellwether trial, meaning its outcome could impact how thousands of similar lawsuits against social media companies would play out.
A Meta spokespman said the company strongly disagrees with the allegations in the lawsuit and said they are ‘confident the evidence will show our longstanding commitment to supporting young people.’
Schmidt said in his opening statement that the company is not disputing that KGM experienced mental health struggles, but rather that Instagram played a substantial factor in those struggles.
He pointed to medical records that showed a turbulent home life, and both he and an attorney representing YouTube argue she turned to their platforms as a coping mechanism or a means of escaping her mental health struggles.
Zuckerberg’s testimony comes a week after that of Adam Mosseri, the head of Meta’s Instagram, who said in the courtroom that he disagrees with the idea that people can be clinically addicted to social media platforms.
Mosseri maintained that Instagram works hard to protect young people using the service, and said it’s ‘not good for the company, over the long run, to make decisions that profit for us but are poor for people´s well-being.’
Much of Mosseri’s questioning from the plaintiff’s lawyer, Mark Lanier, centered on cosmetic filters on Instagram that changed people’s appearance – a topic that Lanier is sure to revisit with Zuckerberg.
He is also expected to face questions about Instagram’s algorithm, the infinite nature of Meta’s feeds and other features the plaintiffs argue are designed to get users hooked.
Meta is also facing a separate trial in New Mexico that began last week.
