Meta study: Parents struggle with kids' social media use

An internal study performed by Meta found that parental involvement had little effect on their kids' problematic use of social media platforms, a witness testified Monday in New Mexico's case against the parent company of Facebook and Instagram.

The unpublished study, obtained by attorneys for the state, found that 1 in 10 parents and 1 in 3 teenagers reported compulsive use of Meta platforms, a Stanford University psychiatrist and addiction specialist told jurors in Santa Fe.

The study, called Project MYST, or Meta and Youth Social Emotional Trends Survey, raised questions about the effectiveness of parental controls intended to limit a child's use of the social medial platform. The study, performed by Meta and the University of Chicago, tracked about 1,000 teens and their parents during the 2023-24 academic year.

"There is a narrative out there that it's the parents fault and that kids who are on the platform all the time are there because their parents are not supervising them," said Dr. Anna Lembke, who is director of the Addiction Medicine Initiative at Stanford's School of Medicine.

"What they found was that kids who spent a lot of time on the platform were more likely to have parents who were getting in there and trying to supervise, manage and get their kids to stop using the platform," Lembke told jurors. 

Parents "are doing their best," she said. "It's really hard and they're experiencing a lot of parenting distress because for kids who are addicted to these platforms, its really, really hard to get them off."

New Mexico Attorney General Raúl Torrez filed a lawsuit against Meta Platforms and its CEO, Mark Zuckerberg, in 2023 alleging the parent company of Facebook and Instagram failed to protect children from sexual abuse, online solicitation and human trafficking.

The trial entered its third week Monday in 1st Judicial District Court in Santa Fe before Judge Bryan Biedscheid. The trial is scheduled through March 26.

The trial to date has featured the testimony of expert witnesses hired by New Mexico who examined internal Meta studies, emails and other documents obtained by the state through legal discovery.

Lembke testified all day Monday and is expected to continue her testimony Tuesday. Attorneys for Meta began cross-examining her late Monday afternoon.

Lembke said Monday she was hired by New Mexico as an expert witness and charges $800 an hour for record review and $1,000 an hour for courtroom testimony. She did not estimate how many hours she has worked so far for the state.

Donald Migliori, an attorney for New Mexico, said in opening statements Feb. 9 that the state will show jurors internal Meta documents that contrast sharply with the company’s public statements about youth safety.

Migliori alleged that Meta places particular value on teens and preteens because they remain engaged for longer periods, bringing the company advertising revenue.

Meta’s attorney, Kevin Huff, said in opening statements that some 3 billion people worldwide use Meta platforms and acknowledged that harmful content and predators find ways to avoid automated systems. But Meta succeeds in removing the vast majority of harmful content such as child exploitation and self-harm from its platforms, he said.

Attorneys for New Mexico highlighted a finding in the MYST study that found "no link between parental monitoring data or teens’ reports of parental monitoring and the attention measures of teens in their surveys or their ability to regulate it.”

The study also found that kids experiencing trauma in their lives are more likely to report problematic social media use, Lembke said.

The findings of the MYST study also have become a focus of an ongoing trial in Los Angeles Superior Court against Meta and YouTube filed by a woman identified as "Kaley" who accuses the companies of creating an addictive product that resulted in harms to her and other young users.

States and individuals across the U.S. have filed thousands of lawsuits in state and federal courts against Meta and other social media companies, alleging the platforms are designed to lure young users into compulsive use, resulting in mental health problems.

Like the other lawsuits, New Mexico’s suit alleges that Meta platforms are addictive and harmful to teens, but it differs from many other suits by arguing that Facebook and Instagram are infested with sexual predators drawn to profiles created by teens and pre-teens.