Plaintiff's lawyer files documents showing Meta knew Instagram was a drug and had a negative impact on mental health

In March 2025, Meta, the company that operates Facebook and Instagram, was sued for allegedly harming people's mental health through their use of the services. The plaintiffs' legal team submitted documents to the court showing that Meta had been aware of the following: 'Instagram is a drug, and we are essentially drug dealers.' 'Instagram is addictive, and using the platform has a negative impact on my mental health.'

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Previn Warren, co-lead counsel for the plaintiffs in the lawsuit, and others argue that Meta designed Facebook and Instagram knowing that they were harmful to minors and that they could cause serious mental health problems through addiction.

The document also revealed that Meta's researchers had the following perception: 'Instagram is a drug, and we are essentially drug dealers.' 'Teenagers are becoming addicted to it without knowing how it makes them feel. Instagram is addictive, and spending time on it is negatively impacting their mental health.'

In 2020, Meta also conducted a research project called 'Project Mercury' with Nielsen, a research firm. The project found that quitting Facebook for a week reduced depression, anxiety, loneliness, and feelings of comparing oneself to others. However, the company decided not to use the results or conduct additional research. Instead, it notified its employees that the findings were 'tainted by old media reports.'

Warren points out that Meta was aware of the negative impact but did not take any measures because 'the more people use it, the more profitable it becomes for the company.'

In court documents, Vaishnavi Jayakumar, who joined Meta in 2020 and served as its head of safety and well-being, testified that she was surprised to learn that Meta had a much more lenient strike policy against accounts suspected of human trafficking than usual. Jayakumar said that reports of prostitution or sexual solicitation on the accounts in question were ignored up to 16 times, and that the account could only be suspended after the 17th time.

In response to the criticism that Meta failed to take sufficient measures, Meta said, 'We strongly oppose accusations that are based on opinions based on limited citations and misinformation in order to intentionally mislead.'