Social media giants knew platforms were ‘addictive drug’ for teens, court filings reveal

Internal communications from Meta Platforms Inc., TikTok, Snap Inc. and YouTube, revealed in a 5,807-page federal court filing unsealed this month, show employees describing their own platforms as an “addictive drug” for teens. An email attributed to Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg states, “If we tell teens’ parents and teachers about their live videos, that will probably ruin the product from the start.” Expert reports submitted with the filing link platform features to serious youth risks such as eating disorders and suicidal thoughts, findings the companies’ own internal research had already flagged.

The documents contain chat logs in which a Meta senior researcher wrote, “IG [Instagram] is a drug,” and a colleague replied, “LOL, I mean, all social media. We’re basically pushers.” Additional emails show internal debate over how youth‐oriented features should operate, including warnings against alerting parents or teachers about teen streams. Expert reports submitted with the filing state the companies’ own research flagged correlations between platform features and youth risks such as eating disorders and suicidal thoughts.

Plaintiffs use a consumer-product liability approach, arguing the platforms had design defects and failed to warn users, rather than treating them solely as content hosts. The 2025 filing was submitted in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California and includes expert assessments of algorithmic and notification systems engineered to boost teen usage. These reports further reference internal comparisons suggesting weaker protections for U.S. minors compared to international peers, and they claim firms treated teen engagement as a core business metric.

Recent Pew Research data shows that Asian Americans are among the most active social media users nationwide. With teens and young adults spending significant time on these services, families are directly exposed to the very features social media employees themselves described as addictive. The documents also show how algorithms determine what content appears credible or popular, which is important for parents who are monitoring how teens interpret posts that may not reflect real experiences.