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Instagram’s CEO Claims The App Isn’t Addictive, And People Aren’t Buying It

By Brian Galindo

February 14, 2026

Instagram's CEO Claims The App Isn't Addictive, And People Aren't Buying It

Instagram CEO Denies App Is Clinically Addictive

On Wednesday, Adam Mosseri, the head of Instagram, took the witness stand in Los Angeles in a major lawsuit about whether social media harms young people’s mental health. The case focuses on claims that companies like Meta (which owns Instagram) and Google’s YouTube built their apps in ways that hook children and lead to problems later in life. The plaintiff at the center is a 20-year-old woman (but was a minor when she signed up for Instagram) who says her early use of the app and other platforms contributed to depression and other struggles as she grew up.

Mosseri strongly pushed back against the idea that Instagram is designed to be addictive. He told jurors that he doesn’t think people can be “clinically addicted” to social media in the medical sense and that what many call addiction is really “problematic use,” which is a personal experience rather than a clinical diagnosis, adding, “I’m sure I said that I’ve been addicted to a Netflix show when I binged it really late one night, but I don’t think it’s the same thing as clinical addiction.”

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