Meta planned quiet academic push against Haidt

Meta employees discussed a below-the-line campaign to weaken the credibility of Jonathan Haidt, a social psychologist whose research has driven global calls for stricter digital age limits. The strategy, outlined in internal documents filed in a US court case, aimed to get the academic community to distance itself from the author of The Anxious Generation.

The minutes, titled Well-being Meeting Sound-check Notes, detail a plan to turn other academics against Haidt. The documents reference a specific goal attributed to Curtiss, identified as Meta's then vice-president of research, Curtiss Cobb. The notes state the objective was to get the academic community to disavow Haidt because the company could not co-opt them. Instead, the strategy sought to enrage peers so that media outlets would view Haidt as not credible.

The internal discussions describe this approach as a whisper strategy rather than a loud one. The notes suggest enlisting a figure referred to only as Gellman to write a takedown piece. While the document does not provide a first name, Andrew Gelman, a professor at Columbia University, addressed the matter in a blog post this week. Gelman stated he was never hired by Facebook to do a hit job on Haidt. He acknowledged receiving money from Mark Zuckerberg's company on a no-strings basis in the past but said he was never asked to examine social media's impact on teenage health.

Haidt's work argues that widespread smartphone use has triggered a mental health crisis among young people. He has become a key advocate for regulations such as banning social media for under-16s and restricting smartphones in schools. In early 2026, UK Health Secretary Wes Streeting invited Haidt to address officials regarding a potential social media ban for minors in the UK. Australia has already implemented an under-16 ban, a measure influenced by the shift in the online safety debate.

The meeting minutes are dated 8 March 2023. They predate the 2024 publication of Haidt's book and respond to a Substack post where he reviewed several articles. It remains unclear whether Meta executed the ideas outlined in the notes. The documents emerged in litigation brought by school districts suing the company.

In a statement to The Verge, Haidt said he was not surprised by the disclosures. He noted that when companies cannot dispute the evidence, they go after the messenger. Meta has been approached for comment.