The company Meta, which owns Facebook and Instagram, halted an internal research project whose results pointed to psychological harm for users of its platforms.
According to the Telegram channel "DW Main", citing Reuters, this is evidenced by materials from court proceedings between Meta and several US school districts, which accuse the social networks of damage to the mental health of teenagers.
It is reported that the study, called Project Mercury, was conducted by the company in 2020. Participants in the experiment were asked to stop using Facebook for a week.
As noted, after just seven days of "offline", respondents recorded a reduction in symptoms of anxiety, depression and loneliness, as well as a decrease in the feeling of social pressure.
After obtaining the initial results, the company suddenly terminated the project and did not publish the information collected.
In turn, a Meta representative denied the claims of data concealment. According to him, the study was closed due to "methodological shortcomings".