Shutting down internal youth research to avoid discovery
Adam Mosseri — Head of Instagram, Instagram Public Blog Post
“We believe in transparency. We are pausing Instagram Kids and continuing our research into youth well-being in consultation with parents and experts.”
Facebook Legal & Comms Directives — executive instructions to research leads, Internal Workplace Post
“Halt all new surveys measuring teen depression, loneliness, or suicidal ideation. Decks containing direct user quotes on self-harm create severe regulatory and litigation attack vectors.”
The Split:Mosseri announced they were 'continuing our research' in the name of transparency. The private reality was that senior management ordered researchers to stop collecting data on teen suicidal ideation because the findings were legally dangerous.
When an institution is caught with damning internal research, the standard response is not to fix the harm, but to ban the measurement.