Meta allegedly blocked mental health research as US schools take tech giant to court
New court filings are casting a shadow over Meta’s attitude towards users’ wellbeing. The parent company of Facebook and Instagram is said to have shut down an internal research project that showed social media can have a measurably negative impact on users’ mental health.
In the project, participants were asked to stay off the apps for a week. The results were striking: users who took a short break from the platforms reported fewer feelings of depression, anxiety and loneliness, as well as less pressure from social comparison.
But instead of publishing the findings, Meta pulled the plug on the project. According to the company, that decision was not about burying the insights, but about concerns over the study’s methodology. The allegation that results were deliberately withheld has been formally denied.
The revelations are part of a broader legal battle. Several US school districts have sued Meta, arguing that the company sacrificed the safety and wellbeing of young people in the name of user growth.
The plaintiffs went further in their allegations. They claimed that safety features were deliberately made ineffective; efforts to combat child exploitation were blocked internally; and that the company consistently put growth ahead of youth safety.
The lawsuit also cited a concrete case in which an account was only removed after 17 documented attempts at sexual exploitation. Prosecutors are using that detail to underscore the seriousness of their case.
CEO Mark Zuckerberg is also quoted in the documents. He is alleged to have said that protecting children was not his top priority, because he wanted to focus on developing the metaverse.
Meta responded forcefully through a spokesperson, calling the quotations “taken out of context” and describing the allegations as based on “misinformation”. The company insists its current safety measures are effective and says it is investing heavily in protections against abuse.
The case will reach a key stage in early 2026. A hearing is scheduled for 26 January in the US District Court for the Northern District of California. It will be a crucial test of how well the accusations against Meta hold up in court.
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