{"id":3102,"date":"2025-11-24T19:24:47","date_gmt":"2025-11-24T19:24:47","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/theinformantusa.com\/?p=3102"},"modified":"2025-11-24T19:24:47","modified_gmt":"2025-11-24T19:24:47","slug":"%f0%9f%9a%a8-meta-shut-down-internal-research-after-finding-facebook-and-instagram-harm-mental-health","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/theinformant.com\/?p=3102","title":{"rendered":"\ud83d\udea8 Meta Shut Down Internal Research After Finding Facebook and Instagram Harm Mental Health"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading has-text-align-center has-medium-font-size\"><strong>\u00a0Internal Study Showed Users Taking Breaks Reported Reduced <\/strong><br><strong>Depression, Anxiety, and Loneliness<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-text-align-center wp-block-paragraph\">Meta discontinued an internal research project, known as \u201cProject Mercury,\u201d after findings showed that deactivating Facebook and Instagram for a week led to reduced feelings of depression, anxiety, loneliness, and social comparison among users. This information emerged from unredacted court filings linked to a class action lawsuit by U.S. school districts.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Started in 2020, Project Mercury involved collaboration between Meta scientists and Nielsen survey firm to examine the mental health effects of social media consumption, focusing on polarization, well-being, and social interactions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Contrary to Meta\u2019s expectations, participants who stopped using the platforms for one week reported significant improvements in mental health metrics.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Instead of publishing or further pursuing the findings, Meta internally halted the research, attributing the negative results to what they called an \u201cexisting media narrative\u201d bias surrounding the company.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Documents revealed internal dissent, with some employees supporting the study\u2019s legitimacy and comparing Meta\u2019s silence to the tobacco industry\u2019s historical cover-ups of smoking harms.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Meta faced criticism for prioritizing growth and user engagement over public health concerns, as plaintiffs in the lawsuit allege conscious neglect of risks posed to minors and young adults.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The lawsuit also accuses Meta of failing to take appropriate remedial actions despite knowing the potential harm and calls for transparency regarding the company\u2019s knowledge and conduct.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Public health advocates emphasize the importance of such research to understand social media\u2019s impact on mental health and call on companies to be accountable.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>\u00a0Internal Study Showed Users Taking Breaks Reported Reduced Depression, Anxiety, and Loneliness Meta discontinued an internal research project, known as \u201cProject Mercury,\u201d after findings showed that deactivating Facebook and Instagram for a week led to reduced feelings of depression, anxiety, loneliness, and social comparison among users. This information emerged from unredacted court filings linked to [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":3103,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2194],"tags":[2844,3216,2111,3113,2250,3218,3115],"class_list":["post-3102","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-lifestyle","tag-2844","tag-facebook","tag-instagram","tag-mentalhealth","tag-meta","tag-socialmedia","tag-study"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v28.7 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>\ud83d\udea8 Meta Shut Down Internal Research After Finding Facebook and Instagram Harm Mental Health - The Informant<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/theinformant.com\/?p=3102\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"\ud83d\udea8 Meta Shut Down Internal Research After Finding Facebook and Instagram Harm Mental Health - The Informant\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"\u00a0Internal Study Showed Users Taking Breaks Reported Reduced Depression, Anxiety, and Loneliness Meta discontinued an internal research project, known as \u201cProject Mercury,\u201d after findings showed that deactivating Facebook and Instagram for a week led to reduced feelings of depression, anxiety, loneliness, and social comparison among users. 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