Parents hope the 'tide will turn' against Big Tech as Mark Zuckerberg takes the stand

Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg took the stand on Wednesday in a landmark trial about social media addiction.
Parents who say their kids were harmed by social media platforms showed up to face the Meta CEO.
The case could impact how other lawsuits play out. Meta said the legal battles could cost them billions.

Lori Schott, a mother from rural Colorado, said she stared down Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg as he walked into court in Los Angeles on Wednesday to testify in a landmark trial regarding social media addiction.

Schott lost her 18-year-old daughter, Annalee, to suicide in 2020. She believes the content Annalee saw on social media platforms "destroyed" her mental health.

"I made eye contact with him for quite a long time," Schott said of Zuckerberg. "I was not backing down."

Schott is not a plaintiff in the case where Zuckerberg testified on Wednesday, but is among more than 2,000 individuals who have similar personal injury lawsuits pending regarding social media addiction and harm.

The case underway in Los Angeles centers on a 20-year-old woman, identified by the initials KGM, who says her use of social media throughout her childhood negatively affected her mental health, contributing to depression and suicidal thoughts. It is considered a bellwether trial that could indicate how other similar lawsuits related to social media harm, like Schott's, could play out.

LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA - FEBRUARY 18: Lori Schott , holds a picture of her daughter Annalee who died by suicide after consuming social media content on depression, anxiety and suicide, stands outside the Los Angeles Superior Court at United States Court House on February 18, 2026 in Los Angeles, California. A 20-year-old California woman sued Meta and YouTube accusing them of building addictive platforms causing harm to children. Schmitt is not part of this case but has a separate social media case and came to advocate and raise awareness. (Photo by Jill Connelly/Getty Images)

Meta, which owns Instagram and Facebook, was named as a defendant alongside Google-owned YouTube, TikTok, and Snapchat. TikTok and Snapchat both settled the lawsuit out of court.

Last month, Meta warned investors that its mounting legal battles over youth safety could "significantly impact" its 2026 financial results. Attorneys for more than 100,000 individual arbitration claimants have "sent mass arbitration demands relating to 'social media addiction'" since late 2024, the company said in a 2026 10-K, which warned that potential damages in certain cases could reach into the "high tens of billions of dollars."

In a statement, Stephanie Otway, a Meta spokesperson, said: "We strongly disagree with these allegations and are confident the evidence will show our longstanding commitment to supporting young people." Otway highlighted changes the company has made over the past decade, including Teen Accounts, which give parents tools to manage their teens' accounts.

Google declined to comment. TikTok did not respond to a request for comment. A Snapchat spokesperson said in a statement: "The Parties are pleased to have been able to resolve this matter in an amicable manner."

On Wednesday, parents showed up hours before the courthouse opened in hopes of getting a seat inside. Many of them had personal stories about how they believed social media use harmed their children.

Parents and family members, including some plaintiffs in the case, hold hands as they pose together before entering the Los Angeles Superior Court for the social media trial tasked to determine whether social media giants deliberately designed their platforms to be addictive to children, in Los Angeles, on February 18, 2026. Meta CEO and Chairman Mark Zuckerberg is scheduled to testify Wednesday. (Photo by Frederic J. Brown / AFP via Getty Images)

"We face a lot of stigma from people telling us we're bad parents," said Amy Neville, another parent who attended to show her support. She said that once the evidence comes out in the trial, she believes "the tide will turn, and the general public will be on board with us."

"It is by design that social media is tearing their family apart," Neville said.

On the stand, Zuckerberg said that teens represent less than 1% of Meta's ad revenue and that most teens don't have disposable income, so it's not especially valuable to advertisers to reach them.

Zuckerberg said it's in Meta's best interest to create a platform that inspires people and makes them want to stick around for the long term.

"If people aren't happy with a service, eventually over time they'll stop using it and use something better," he said.

Sarah Gardner said that regardless of the outcome of the trial, she hopes it raises awareness about how the social media companies, and specifically Zuckerberg, have been operating. Gardner is the CEO of the Heat Initiative, an advocacy group that pressures Big Tech companies to make their platforms safer for kids. She was at the courthouse with the parents who believe they have been affected.

Gardner said she's hopeful the trial will empower more people to say, "I don't want to be on Instagram anymore."

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