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Newly released court filings reveal that Meta’s internal conversations included pointed remarks from its own employees, who privately likened Instagram to a “drug” and questioned how the company managed research into user behavior.
The material surfaced in federal court in Northern California, where a coalition of US state attorneys general, school districts and parents is suing Meta, YouTube, Snapchat and TikTok.
Staff reactions to internal findings
According to the New York Post, one internal chat cited in the filings, a Meta user experience researcher said, “Oh my gosh yall IG is a drug.” Another staff member responded, “We’re basically pushers.” The court documents also include claims that Instagram chief Adam Mosseri “doesn’t want to hear it” and “freaked out” after researchers presented an internal review describing how the app generated dopamine-driven engagement.
The plaintiffs argue that these conversations show a culture in which concerns about technology design and behavioral patterns were minimized. The filings cite testimony from current and former employees, including Instagram’s former Head of Safety and Wellbeing, Vaishnavi Jayakumar.
She described a “17x” strike policy for accounts linked to “trafficking of humans for sex,” telling investigators that allowing 16 violations before suspension was “a very, very high strike threshold.”
‘Project Mercury’ and internal disagreement
The legal brief also points to staff discussions around “Project Mercury,” a 2020 study comparing users who stopped using Facebook and Instagram for a month with those who didn’t. According to the filings, the results showed that “[p]eople who stopped using Facebook for a week reported lower feelings of depression, anxiety, loneliness, and social comparison.”
Internal documents cited in the case say the findings led to “disappointment” inside Meta, and that leaders questioned whether the study reflected the “existing media narrative.” Some staff disagreed. One employee warned that keeping the results hidden was “going to look like tobacco companies doing research and knowing cigs were bad and then keeping that info to themselves.”
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The plaintiffs contend that burying those findings contradicts assurances Meta gave Congress in late 2020, when company officials said they had no way to determine whether Instagram usage was connected to negative outcomes for teenage girls.
Public response and industry impact
Meta disputes the allegations. A spokesperson said they “rely on cherry-picked quotes and misinformed opinions” and argued the company has “listened to parents, researched issues that matter most, and made real changes to protect teens.”
Executives at other platforms were also named. A Google spokesperson said claims against YouTube “fundamentally misunderstand how YouTube works.”
As the case moves forward, the released material offers a rare look at internal friction over technology design, leadership responses, and how the company chooses to manage its own research.
