Society
Zuckerberg Took the Stand — Social Media Is Engineering Your Child's Brain
Summary
On February 18, 2026, Mark Zuckerberg sat in the witness stand. It was the first time a Meta CEO faced a jury over child safety. Instagram's infinite scroll uses the same addiction mechanism as slot machines, and a shocking 4 million children under 13 were found using the platform. Six EU nations are already pursuing bans on social media for under-16s. The real problem is not the features — it's the ad-based business model itself.
Key Points
1
Zuckerberg testifies before jury for first time in history over child safety
2
Instagram infinite scroll uses same variable-ratio reinforcement schedule as slot machines
3
Meta internal email: approximately 4 million users under 13 on Instagram in the US
4
Teens who use social media 5+ hours daily are twice as likely to show depressive symptoms
5
Six EU nations (Spain, France, etc.) pushing to ban social media for under-16s
6
European Commission rules TikTok infinite scroll violates EU Digital Services Act
7
The real problem is the structural addiction incentive of ad-based business models
Positive & Negative Analysis
Positive Aspects
- A win in this trial sets precedent for 1,600+ similar lawsuits, establishing legal duty of care for children
- The dual approach of EU regulation and US litigation addresses both past accountability and future prevention
- Technology itself is not the problem — AI can be used to develop child-protective algorithms
Concerns
- A courtroom victory alone cannot fix the structural problem of ad-based business models
- Removing infinite scroll will simply lead to replacement by other addictive features
- Without fundamental redesign of the attention economy, the same problems will repeat
Outlook
This LA trial is a test case. The jury's verdict will determine the trajectory of the entire social media industry's duty to protect children. But unless the business model changes, the same problems will recur in different forms. What we need is a fundamental redesign of the attention economy itself.