Revealed: Meta Concealed Research Showing Social Media's Causal Link to Mental Health Harm, Court Documents Allege

Nov 23, 2025 10:15 am CST

Court filings reveal that Meta allegedly buried internal research demonstrating causal links between Facebook/Instagram usage and negative mental health outcomes. According to documents from a class action lawsuit by US school districts, Meta's "Project Mercury" found that users who deactivated their accounts for a week reported reduced depression, anxiety, and loneliness. The company reportedly terminated further research rather than publishing these findings, while continuing to tell Congress it couldn't quantify platform harms to teenagers.