Behind the Selfie: How Meta Promotes Eating Disorders and Body Dysmorphia in Youth

7. Meta promotes Platform features such as visual filters known to promote eating disorders and body dysmorphia in youth.

333. As referenced above, Meta also deceives the public by representing in its public communications that its Social Media Platforms do not allow content that promotes or encourages eating disorders—all while actively choosing to retain Platform features known by Meta to promote those very disorders, despite expert warnings about the resulting harms to young users.

334. For example, on September 30, 2021, Meta executive Davis denied that Meta promotes harmful information, such as information that promotes eating disorders, when testifying before Congress, stating: “[w]e do not direct people towards content that promotes eating disorders. That actually violates our policies, and we remove that content when we become aware of it. We actually use AI to find content like that and remove it.”

335. Davis also testified that for teen girls struggling with “loneliness, anxiety, sadness, and eating disorders,” they “were more likely to say that Instagram was affirmatively helping them, not making it worse.”

336. Davis also testified that Instagram “work[s] with experts to help inform our product and policies” around eating disorders. Meta publishes this same statement in a section devoted to “[e]ating disorders” and “negative body image” in its “parent and guardian’s guide to Instagram,” which it makes available on its website.

337. Generally, and as described above, Meta falsely represents to the public that Meta does not prioritize user engagement or Meta’s profits over young users’ safety.

338-344. [Redacted]

345. Meta’s initial response to the public backlash was to institute a temporary ban on the camera filters.

346-361. [Redacted]

362. [Redacted] left Meta in November 2022.

363. [Redacted] As of October 2023, these filters remain available on Instagram. [Redacted]

364-367. [Redacted]

368. [Redacted] it continued to misrepresent to the public that Instagram helped teen girls struggling with mental health and eating disorders. Davis falsely denied to the public and lawmakers that Meta promotes and makes available content associated with eating disorders, when in fact, Meta’s own Platform features are associated with body image issues related to eating disorders.