Meta Staff Compared Instagram To 'A Drug' As Filing Claims Company Hid Teen Risks

Benzinga

Unsealed filings suggest Meta employees privately compared Instagram to a drug while the company publicly emphasized child safety. The documents appear to contradict Meta’s claims about protecting teens, raising concerns over internal awareness of risks like eating disorders and suicide. Meta says the quotes are taken out of context and point to its newer safety tools.

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00:00It's Benzinga bringing Wall Street to Main Street.

00:02Newly unsealed internal communications alleged that top Meta staff compared Instagram to a drug

00:07sought to hide its known risks for parents and children, according to Politico.

00:11The excerpts show a Meta researcher calling Instagram a drug,

00:14and a colleague replied that all social media makes them pushers.

00:17Comments the researcher later said were sarcastic.

00:20The filing suggests internal comments and a 2016 email from Zuckerberg

00:24countering public claims that Meta prioritizes child safety,

00:27instead indicating efforts to avoid losing teen users by limiting parental visibility.

00:32Meta said the allegations are misleading and based on cherry-picking quotes,

00:35pointing to new teen accounts and parental controls as evidence that it prioritizes children's safety.

00:40Creatives argue the companies understood how their systems contributed to eating disorders,

00:44body dysmorphia, and suicide failed to warn the public.

00:48For all things money, visit Benzinga.com.

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