Meta buried evidence of 'social media’s negative impact' on mental health, claims court

In latest findings a U.S. court has claimed that meta allegedly shut down internal research after discovering casual evidence that Facebook and Instagram negatively impacted users’ mental health.

According to Reuters, the document claimed that a 2020 study, code-named "Project Mercury" found users reported lower depression, anxiety and loneliness after deactivating the platforms findings, Meta chose not to publish.

“People who stopped using Facebook for a week reported lower feelings of depression, anxiety, loneliness and social comparison," said report.

“Rather than publishing those findings or pursuing additional research, the filing states, Meta called off further work and internally declared that the negative study findings were tainted by the existing media narrative around the company,” it further added.

However, staff assured Nick Clegg, Meta’s former head of global policy that the conclusions of the research were somehow valid.

“The Nielsen study does show causal impact on social comparison,” a staff researcher allegedly wrote.

Another staff member being worried given an example such as, “keeping quiet about negative findings would be akin to the tobacco industry; like doing research and knowing cigarettes were bad and then keeping that info to themselves.”

Furthermore, the claims come from unredacted filings submitted by U.S. school districts suing Meta, Google, TikTok and Snapchat adding that the plaintiffs argue the tech giants intentionally concealed internally recognized risks from users, parents and educators.

Allegations against Meta and its rivals include tacitly encouraging children below the age of 13 to use their platforms, failing to address child sexual abuse content, and seeking to expand the use of social media products by teenagers while they are at school.

Meta denies allegations

While in a statement released on Saturday November 22,2025 Meta’s spokesman Andy Stone denied all allegations while defending the company, asserting that the study was stopped because its methodology was flawed and that Meta works diligently to improve product safety.

“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,” said spokesman Andy Stone.