Mark Zuckerberg is set to give evidence in a watershed experiment to test social media addiction claims

LOS ANGELES (AP) — Mark Zuckerberg will testify in an unprecedented social media trial that questions whether meta platforms are addicting and intentionally harming children.

Read more: What legal experts say about a ‘groundbreaking trial’ into children’s social media addiction

Meta’s CEO is expected to answer tough questions Wednesday from lawyers representing a 20-year-old woman identified by the initials KGM, who claims her early social media use led to her addiction to technology and worsening depression and suicidal thoughts. Meta Platforms and Google’s YouTube are the remaining defendants in the case, which TikTok and Snap settled.

Zuckerberg has testified in other trials and answered questions from Congress about the safety of young people on meta platforms, and apologized to families at that hearing whose lives were upended by tragedies they believed were caused by social media. However, this trial marks the first time Zuckerberg has answered similar questions in front of a jury. Once again, bereaved parents are expected to sit in the limited seats available to the public in the courtroom.

This case, along with two others, has been selected as a pilot trial, meaning its outcome could impact how thousands of similar lawsuits against social media companies proceed.

Read more: A landmark trial begins accusing tech giants of harming children through addictive social media

A Meta spokesman said the company strongly disputes the allegations in the lawsuit, and said they are “confident that the evidence will demonstrate our long-standing commitment to supporting young people.”

Paul Schmidt, one of Meta’s lawyers, said in his opening statement that the company does not dispute that KGM suffered from mental health struggles, but rather that Instagram played a substantive role in those struggles. He pointed to medical records that showed a troubled home life, and he and a lawyer representing YouTube say she turned to their platforms as a coping mechanism or as a way to escape her mental health struggles.

He watches: The states suing Meta accuse the company of manipulating its apps to get children addicted

Zuckerberg’s testimony comes a week after that of Adam Mosseri, head of MetaInstagram, who said in the courtroom that he disagreed with the idea that people could become clinically addicted to social media platforms. Mosseri stressed that Instagram is working hard to protect young people who use the service, and said that “it is not good for the company, in the long run, to make decisions that benefit us but harm people’s well-being.”

Much of Mosseri’s questioning from the plaintiff’s attorney, Mark Lanier, centered on Instagram’s cosmetic filters that changed people’s appearance — a topic Lanier is sure to revisit with Zuckerberg. He is also expected to face questions about Instagram’s algorithm, the infinite nature of meta-feeds and other features that prosecutors say are designed to attract users.

He watches: Dozens of states are suing Meta, claiming that social media addiction harms children’s mental health

Meta also faces a separate trial in New Mexico that began last week.