Sun Nov 23 01:20:38 UTC 2025: FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Meta Shelved Research Showing Facebook, Instagram Harm Mental Health, Lawsuit Alleges
San Francisco, CA – November 23, 2025 – Meta, the parent company of Facebook and Instagram, allegedly shut down internal research after it revealed a causal link between its social media platforms and negative mental health effects, according to unredacted filings in a class action lawsuit filed by U.S. school districts.
The lawsuit, filed by the law firm Motley Rice on behalf of school districts across the country, accuses Meta, along with Google, TikTok, and Snapchat, of intentionally concealing the risks of their products from users, parents, and teachers.
Internal Meta documents obtained via discovery detail a 2020 research project, “Project Mercury,” which found that users who deactivated Facebook and Instagram for a week reported lower feelings of depression, anxiety, loneliness, and social comparison. Instead of publishing these findings or continuing the research, Meta allegedly terminated the project, citing concerns that the negative results were influenced by the existing media narrative surrounding the company.
However, internal communications suggest that Meta employees acknowledged the validity of the findings. One staff researcher reportedly wrote that the study showed a “causal impact on social comparison,” while another worried that suppressing the data would mirror the tobacco industry’s concealment of the harmful effects of cigarettes.
Despite this internal knowledge, the lawsuit claims that Meta told Congress it could not quantify whether its products harmed teenage girls.
The lawsuit contains claims the other social media platforms encouraged 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 were at school. The plaintiffs also allege that the platforms attempted to pay child-focused organizations to defend the safety of their products in public.
Meta spokesman Andy Stone refuted the allegations, stating that the “Project Mercury” study was stopped due to flawed methodology and that the company has worked diligently to improve the safety of its products. He also disputed the claims that Meta ignored requests by Clegg to better fund child safety work.
“We strongly disagree with these allegations, which rely on cherry-picked quotes and misinformed opinions,” Stone said in a statement.
Meta has filed a motion to strike the documents cited in the lawsuit, arguing that the plaintiffs are seeking to unseal an over-broad range of materials.
A hearing regarding the filing is scheduled for January 26 in Northern California District Court. The lawsuit seeks damages on behalf of the school districts and aims to force the social media companies to implement stricter safety measures for their users.
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