Meta scandal: the company allegedly hid evidence of social media’s harm
24 November 2025 04:11
Meta has suspended an internal study of Facebook’s impact on mental health after finding evidence that its products harm users’ mental health, according to unredacted documents in a lawsuit filed by US school districts against Meta and other social networks.
This was reported by Reuters, according to "Komersant Ukrainian".
In a 2020 research project codenamed Project Mercury, Meta scientists collaborated with Nielsen to assess the effect of Facebook’s “deactivation,” according to Meta documents obtained during the investigation.
Unfortunately for the company, “people who stopped using Facebook for a week reported lower levels of depression, anxiety, loneliness, and social comparison,” according to internal documents.
Instead of publishing these findings or conducting additional research, as outlined in the filings, Meta stopped further work and internally stated that the negative results of the study were distorted by the “existing media narrative” surrounding the company.
