Meta employees compared themselves to drug ‘pushers’ as company buried mental health …

Meta’s own researchers called Instagram a “drug” while burying evidence that the company’s social media apps were hurting kids’ mental health, according to bombshell filings unsealed in California federal court on Friday. The alarming details surfaced in Northern California District Court, where a coalition of US state attorneys general, school districts and parents are suing Meta, Google-owned YouTube, TikTok and Snap over allegations they prioritized profit while misleading the public about potential risks to children. “Oh my gosh yall IG is a drug,” one Meta user experience researcher allegedly stated in an internal chat, according to documents cited in the court records. “We’re basically pushers,” another Meta employee allegedly responded. Instagram chief Adam Mosseri “doesn’t want to hear it” and “freaked out” when presented with an internal review about how the app was essentially getting kids hooked with dopamine hits, one of the researchers said. The plaintiffs allege CEO Mark Zuckerberg and other executives lied to Congress. Getty Images The plaintiffs allege that the internal evidence showed Meta has a track record of systematically downplaying or covering up research showing how its apps were fueling addiction and anxiety or depression, as well evidence that kids were being exposed to online
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