Overview
- A 2021 email unsealed this week shows Mark Zuckerberg wrote that recent events led him to consider changing Meta’s approach to research on social issues.
- Zuckerberg contrasted Meta’s practices with Apple’s, citing the iCloud CSAM-scanning plan that drew backlash and was later walked back.
- Internal discussions outlined options for handling sensitive studies, including centralizing access, outsourcing, or disbanding some teams, with a move to centralize favored.
- Meta says it remains committed to transparent, industry-leading research and points to teen accounts with built-in protections and new parental controls.
- The filings reference Meta’s own findings that 32% of teen girls who felt bad about their bodies said Instagram made them feel worse, which plaintiffs argue contradicts public safety claims, with opening statements expected next week.