Unsealed Court Documents Show Teen Addiction Was Big Tech's "Top Priority"
5 hours ago
- #youth addiction
- #tech accountability
- #social media
- Meta, Google, Snap, and TikTok designed social media products to addict children and teens, disregarding known harms.
- Internal documents reveal strategies like targeting teens during school hours and creating 'private modes' for plausible deniability.
- Meta's 'Teen Ambassador Program' recruited teens to promote platforms in schools, offering incentives and requiring NDAs.
- Google's YouTube autoplay feature was identified as potentially disrupting sleep patterns, with minimal effective wellbeing tools.
- Snapchat's internal research showed widespread use among under-13 users, despite age restrictions.
- TikTok acknowledged rampant compulsive usage, especially among younger users sensitive to social rewards.
- Tech companies coordinated with groups like the National PTA and FOSI to control narratives around youth social media use.
- Expert reports concluded that platforms were not designed to be safe for children, with ineffective age verification and parental controls.
- Internal discussions compared social media to drugs and slot machines, acknowledging their addictive design.