Meta knows how bad its sites are for kids, say lawyers
(2025/11/24)
- Reference: 1764024543
- News link: https://www.theregister.co.uk/2025/11/24/meta_sites_kids/
- Source link:
Is Meta acting like a tobacco company denying cigarettes cause cancer, or an oil giant downplaying climate science? Lawyers in a recent court filing claim the social media titan buried internal research for years suggesting its platforms can harm children's mental health.
Lawyers representing plaintiffs in [1]1,464 lawsuits (as of early 2025) consolidated in the federal social-media child-safety multidistrict litigation filed a whopper of a document in a California court Friday - a 235-page [2]omnibus response [PDF] opposing the defendants' motions for summary judgment.
Those suits are part of MDL No. 3047 in the Northern District of California, which includes cases against Meta, Google/YouTube, Snap, and TikTok.
[3]
School districts, parents, and state Attorneys General have been battling the social-media giants, and Friday's omnibus filing is the latest salvo. It argues there's ample internal evidence, much of it buried in sealed exhibits, showing Meta was well aware its apps could fuel mental-health harms in teens, and that the company kept those findings under wraps.
[4]
[5]
According to the Friday filing, Meta conducted numerous studies into how its platforms affect children, and none of the studies cited in the filing suggests Meta got the results it wanted.
In 2019, for example, the platform allegedly randomly asked users to stop logging on for a month, "helping us explore the impact that our apps have on polarization, news consumption, well-being, and daily social interactions," according to the study cited in the filing.
[6]
Unfortunately for Meta, the results were [7]entirely as expected : Staying off social media will make you happier.
"People who stopped using Facebook for a week reported lower feelings of depression, anxiety, loneliness, and social comparison," the filing quotes Meta's study as concluding. Rather than taking the matter public, or working to improve its systems, Meta allegedly blamed "the existing media narrative around the company" and buried the study, which was done in conjunction with polling outfit Nielsen. We reached out to Nielsen to learn more about its role in the study, but didn't hear back.
"If the results are bad and we don't publish and they leak, it's going to look like tobacco companies doing research and knowing cigs were bad and then keeping that info to themselves," one Meta employee reportedly said, per the filing.
[8]
In another study performed the following year, a member of Meta's data science team concluded heavy users of its products had less self control and were showing addictive behaviors. Three years later, a longitudinal study of 4,000 U.S. teens over a school year found that many reported unintentional, habitual use and trouble controlling their time on Instagram. Per the court filing, the study concluded that many teenagers reported unintentional habitual use and a lack of ability to control their use of Meta platforms. Another internal study performed the same year reached the same conclusions, according to the filing.
"As the foregoing study demonstrates, Meta understands not only that its platforms are addictive to teens, but also that this addiction produces a cascade of related mental health harms," lawyers for the plaintiffs wrote. "The connection between problematic use and mental health issues for teenage users was not a one-off observation by a single researcher."
As noted multiple times in the filing, Meta never publicized any of those alleged findings.
When we contacted Meta for a response to the allegations, it denied having done anything untoward.
"We strongly disagree with these allegations, which rely on cherry-picked quotes and misinformed opinions in an attempt to present a deliberately misleading picture," a Meta spokesperson told The Register in an email.
"The full record will show that for over a decade, we have listened to parents, researched issues that matter most, and made real changes to protect teens," Meta added. "We're proud of the progress we've made and we stand by our record."
[9]Meta's fix for teen online mental health? Hold Apple and Google responsible
[10]'I'm sorry for everything...' Facebook's Zuck apologizes to families at Senate hearing
[11]EU probes Meta over its provisions for protecting children
[12]Social media is too much for most of us to handle
When we took that response to the lawyers who filed the document packed with those allegations, they raised a very good point: All of the studies, quotes, and hushed-up findings mentioned on Friday are tied to one or more of the thousand-plus exhibits filed in the case - exhibits that Meta had sealed in court.
"The exhibits to the filing unsealed on Friday currently remain sealed on request of the defendants [i.e., Meta, etc]," lawyer Previn Warren of Motley Rice LLC, who authored the Friday filing, told us. "If the defendants are willing to allow the press to see exhibits, they can do so at any time."
The Register asked Meta to see evidence of cherry-picking that would contradict hundreds of pages of documentation (with citations) that suggest the company is plainly aware of the harms caused by social media - a fact with [13]plenty of [14]evidence to [15]support it . We did not get a response to that request.
The matter is due to head to court early next year. ®
Get our [16]Tech Resources
[1] https://www.motleyrice.com/social-media-lawsuits/meta
[2] https://regmedia.co.uk/2025/11/24/meta-opposition-child-safety-briefing.pdf
[3] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_software/front&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=2&c=2aSTjlQbWphp7PPTXqkBCEAAAAAU&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D2%26raptor%3Dcondor%26pos%3Dtop%26test%3D0
[4] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_software/front&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=4&c=44aSTjlQbWphp7PPTXqkBCEAAAAAU&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D4%26raptor%3Dfalcon%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
[5] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_software/front&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=3&c=33aSTjlQbWphp7PPTXqkBCEAAAAAU&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D3%26raptor%3Deagle%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
[6] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_software/front&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=4&c=44aSTjlQbWphp7PPTXqkBCEAAAAAU&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D4%26raptor%3Dfalcon%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
[7] https://www.theregister.com/2017/04/12/facebook_makes_you_sad/
[8] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_software/front&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=3&c=33aSTjlQbWphp7PPTXqkBCEAAAAAU&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D3%26raptor%3Deagle%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
[9] https://www.theregister.com/2023/11/15/metas_teen_safety/
[10] https://www.theregister.com/2024/01/31/senate_social_media_zuckerberg/
[11] https://www.theregister.com/2024/05/16/eu_investigates_meta_over_its/
[12] https://www.theregister.com/2023/07/20/social_overload/
[13] https://www.hopkinsmedicine.org/health/wellness-and-prevention/social-media-and-mental-health-in-children-and-teens
[14] https://health.clevelandclinic.org/dangers-of-social-media-for-youth
[15] https://www.theregister.com/2023/05/23/us_surgeon_general_report_warns/
[16] https://whitepapers.theregister.com/
Lawyers representing plaintiffs in [1]1,464 lawsuits (as of early 2025) consolidated in the federal social-media child-safety multidistrict litigation filed a whopper of a document in a California court Friday - a 235-page [2]omnibus response [PDF] opposing the defendants' motions for summary judgment.
Those suits are part of MDL No. 3047 in the Northern District of California, which includes cases against Meta, Google/YouTube, Snap, and TikTok.
[3]
School districts, parents, and state Attorneys General have been battling the social-media giants, and Friday's omnibus filing is the latest salvo. It argues there's ample internal evidence, much of it buried in sealed exhibits, showing Meta was well aware its apps could fuel mental-health harms in teens, and that the company kept those findings under wraps.
[4]
[5]
According to the Friday filing, Meta conducted numerous studies into how its platforms affect children, and none of the studies cited in the filing suggests Meta got the results it wanted.
In 2019, for example, the platform allegedly randomly asked users to stop logging on for a month, "helping us explore the impact that our apps have on polarization, news consumption, well-being, and daily social interactions," according to the study cited in the filing.
[6]
Unfortunately for Meta, the results were [7]entirely as expected : Staying off social media will make you happier.
"People who stopped using Facebook for a week reported lower feelings of depression, anxiety, loneliness, and social comparison," the filing quotes Meta's study as concluding. Rather than taking the matter public, or working to improve its systems, Meta allegedly blamed "the existing media narrative around the company" and buried the study, which was done in conjunction with polling outfit Nielsen. We reached out to Nielsen to learn more about its role in the study, but didn't hear back.
"If the results are bad and we don't publish and they leak, it's going to look like tobacco companies doing research and knowing cigs were bad and then keeping that info to themselves," one Meta employee reportedly said, per the filing.
[8]
In another study performed the following year, a member of Meta's data science team concluded heavy users of its products had less self control and were showing addictive behaviors. Three years later, a longitudinal study of 4,000 U.S. teens over a school year found that many reported unintentional, habitual use and trouble controlling their time on Instagram. Per the court filing, the study concluded that many teenagers reported unintentional habitual use and a lack of ability to control their use of Meta platforms. Another internal study performed the same year reached the same conclusions, according to the filing.
"As the foregoing study demonstrates, Meta understands not only that its platforms are addictive to teens, but also that this addiction produces a cascade of related mental health harms," lawyers for the plaintiffs wrote. "The connection between problematic use and mental health issues for teenage users was not a one-off observation by a single researcher."
As noted multiple times in the filing, Meta never publicized any of those alleged findings.
When we contacted Meta for a response to the allegations, it denied having done anything untoward.
"We strongly disagree with these allegations, which rely on cherry-picked quotes and misinformed opinions in an attempt to present a deliberately misleading picture," a Meta spokesperson told The Register in an email.
"The full record will show that for over a decade, we have listened to parents, researched issues that matter most, and made real changes to protect teens," Meta added. "We're proud of the progress we've made and we stand by our record."
[9]Meta's fix for teen online mental health? Hold Apple and Google responsible
[10]'I'm sorry for everything...' Facebook's Zuck apologizes to families at Senate hearing
[11]EU probes Meta over its provisions for protecting children
[12]Social media is too much for most of us to handle
When we took that response to the lawyers who filed the document packed with those allegations, they raised a very good point: All of the studies, quotes, and hushed-up findings mentioned on Friday are tied to one or more of the thousand-plus exhibits filed in the case - exhibits that Meta had sealed in court.
"The exhibits to the filing unsealed on Friday currently remain sealed on request of the defendants [i.e., Meta, etc]," lawyer Previn Warren of Motley Rice LLC, who authored the Friday filing, told us. "If the defendants are willing to allow the press to see exhibits, they can do so at any time."
The Register asked Meta to see evidence of cherry-picking that would contradict hundreds of pages of documentation (with citations) that suggest the company is plainly aware of the harms caused by social media - a fact with [13]plenty of [14]evidence to [15]support it . We did not get a response to that request.
The matter is due to head to court early next year. ®
Get our [16]Tech Resources
[1] https://www.motleyrice.com/social-media-lawsuits/meta
[2] https://regmedia.co.uk/2025/11/24/meta-opposition-child-safety-briefing.pdf
[3] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_software/front&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=2&c=2aSTjlQbWphp7PPTXqkBCEAAAAAU&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D2%26raptor%3Dcondor%26pos%3Dtop%26test%3D0
[4] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_software/front&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=4&c=44aSTjlQbWphp7PPTXqkBCEAAAAAU&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D4%26raptor%3Dfalcon%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
[5] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_software/front&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=3&c=33aSTjlQbWphp7PPTXqkBCEAAAAAU&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D3%26raptor%3Deagle%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
[6] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_software/front&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=4&c=44aSTjlQbWphp7PPTXqkBCEAAAAAU&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D4%26raptor%3Dfalcon%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
[7] https://www.theregister.com/2017/04/12/facebook_makes_you_sad/
[8] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_software/front&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=3&c=33aSTjlQbWphp7PPTXqkBCEAAAAAU&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D3%26raptor%3Deagle%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
[9] https://www.theregister.com/2023/11/15/metas_teen_safety/
[10] https://www.theregister.com/2024/01/31/senate_social_media_zuckerberg/
[11] https://www.theregister.com/2024/05/16/eu_investigates_meta_over_its/
[12] https://www.theregister.com/2023/07/20/social_overload/
[13] https://www.hopkinsmedicine.org/health/wellness-and-prevention/social-media-and-mental-health-in-children-and-teens
[14] https://health.clevelandclinic.org/dangers-of-social-media-for-youth
[15] https://www.theregister.com/2023/05/23/us_surgeon_general_report_warns/
[16] https://whitepapers.theregister.com/