Top Meta staff allegedly compared Instagram to a drug and worked for years to obscure the social media platform’s potential dangers from parents and children, even as they appeared to acknowledge their technology was harmful, according to newly unsealed internal communications cited in a court filing.
The 5,807-page filing was submitted this month as part of proceedings in a high-profile, years-old lawsuit alleging social media companies including Meta, TikTok, Snap and YouTube knowingly designed defective products that are addictive and harmful for teens. A federal judge ordered its contents be unsealed in an Oct. 30 order.
The filing includes a series of detailed reports from four experts, who examined internal documents, research and direct communications between engineers and executives at the companies. Experts’ opinions broadly concluded that the companies knew their platforms were addictive but continued to prioritize user engagement over safety.
“IG [Instagram] is a drug,” Shayli Jimenez, a Meta senior researcher, is quoted as saying in one internal communication, referenced during a sealed deposition conducted earlier this year.
“LOL, I mean, all social media. We’re basically pushers,” another Meta employee then allegedly responded in the same conversation. (Jimenez said in her deposition, according to the filing, that those comments were made “sarcastically.”