Meta, owner of the social network Facebook, will have hidden internal evidence that pointed to a causal relationship between the use of its platforms and damage to users’ mental healthespecially teenagers. The revelation is contained in new court documents included in a lawsuit filed by dozens of North American school groups, writes Reuters.
The case gains weight at a time when the regulation of large technology companies is a central issue in North American politics. In the documents now released, the complainants claim that Meta not only ignored internal investigations but also restricted access to information considered sensitive about the risks of its platforms.
One of the studies cited — “Project Mercury”, carried out in 2020 with Nielsen — concluded that users who suspended Facebook for a week reported lower levels of depression, anxiety, loneliness and social comparison.
Faced with the unfavorable conclusions, Meta chose to interrupt the project and internally devalue the results, justifying that they were influenced by the negative “media narrative”.
Meta declared to Congress that it had no way of quantifying the impacts of its platforms on the mental health of female adolescents. Now faced with the allegations, spokesman Andy Stone stated that the study was stopped due to “methodological flaws” and assured that the company has made “real changes to protect teenagers”.
The accusations arise in a broader process that also involves Google, TikTok and Snapchat.
In the case of Meta, the documents detail practices that the plaintiffs characterize as structural: security features designed to be “ineffective,” resistance to removing accounts associated with sex trafficking before multiple offenses, and the deliberate choice of algorithms that would increase teen engagement even though they know they amplify harmful content.
Meta rejects the portrait presented in the process, accusing the plaintiffs of using “quotes out of context and ill-informed opinions”. The company guarantees that it removes accounts suspected of sex trafficking as soon as they are flagged and argues that its protection mechanisms for young people are “widely effective”.
The federal court for the Northern District of California will decide on January 26 whether the documents will be made public.