"According to a new filing in the Northern District of Californi a, which has been put forward by a collective of more than 1,800 plaintiffs, Instagram, TikTok, Snapchat, and YouTube have "relentlessly pursued a strategy of growth at all costs, recklessly ignoring the impact of their products on children's mental and physical health." 'In a 2020 research project code-named 'Project Mercury,' Meta scientists worked with survey firm Nielsen to gauge the effect of 'deactivating' Facebook, according to Meta documents obtained via discovery. To the company's disappointment, 'people who stopped using Facebook for a week reported lower feelings of depression, anxiety, loneliness and social comparison,' internal documents said.' The suit alleges that Meta buried these findings, and canceled any further work on this element, arguing that the results were tainted by the 'existing media narrative' around the company."
"'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.'"
A filing in the Northern District of California, brought by more than 1,800 plaintiffs, alleges that Instagram, TikTok, Snapchat, and YouTube prioritized growth over children's mental and physical health by using engagement features and algorithms that encourage compulsive use. Internal Meta research from a project called Project Mercury reportedly found that deactivating Facebook for a week reduced depression, anxiety, loneliness, and social comparison, and the filing alleges Meta buried those findings and halted related work. The filing also alleges Snapchat's age-detection is ineffective and that Snap Streaks drive repeated use, while YouTube's algorithms expose young users to harmful content.
Read at Social Media Today
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