Image: Meta
Unsealed court documents from a lawsuit filed by New Mexico Attorney General Raúl Torrez have revealed a fascinating internal perspective from Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg regarding his company’s fierce rivalry with Apple. In a series of 2021 emails, Zuckerberg suggested that Apple manages to dodge the intense public scrutiny Meta faces regarding teen mental health by simply ignoring the issue entirely (via The Verge).
The emails were sent just one day after a harrowing report from The Wall Street Journal revealed that Instagram’s own internal research found 32% of teen girls felt worse about their bodies after using the app. Addressing top executives, Zuckerberg expressed frustration that Meta’s proactive research into social harms was being used as a weapon against the company, while competitors remained unscathed.
“Apple, for example, doesn’t seem to study any of this stuff,” Zuckerberg wrote in the September 2021 thread. “As far as I understand, they don’t have anyone reviewing or moderating content and don’t even have a report flow in iMessage. They’ve taken the approach that it is people’s own responsibility what they do on the platform, and by Apple not taking that responsibility upon themselves, they haven’t created a staff or plethora of studies examining the tradeoffs in their approach. This has worked surprisingly well for them.”
Zuckerberg also claimed that YouTube seems to intentionally bury its head in the sand to stay below the radar. He argued that Meta’s transparency — such as reporting child sexual abuse material (CSAM) — ironically made it a larger target. “When Apple did try to do something about CSAM, they were roundly criticized for it, which may encourage them to double down on their original approach,” he noted, likely referencing Apple’s abandoned plans to scan iCloud photos.
Historically, Instagram and other Meta platforms have often come under fire for how they affect teen users. To combat this, Meta has been rolling out features like a recent AI trial in Canada that proactively finds accounts that belong to teens to place them in the Teen Account settings category. These experiences are now guided by more restrictive PG-13 ratings to ensure age-appropriate content. Additionally, Meta is reportedly readying a new global age verification system to limit minors’ access to harmful material.
A Meta spokesperson told The Verge that the company “is proud of our continued commitment to doing transparent, industry-leading research.” He added that Meta continues to use these insights to make meaningful improvements to its platforms, such as providing parents with tools to manage their teens’ experiences.
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