Meta has agreed to pay up to USD $18 billion over 10 years to settle a wave of US lawsuits accusing it of designing social media platforms Facebook and Instagram to addict teenagers.
Meanwhile, locally, UNSW research released this week shows that a link between social media and mental health in kids and teenagers. Earlier first usage of social media is linked to more anxiety and depression symptoms in a child’s teenage years.
UNSW research findings
A UNSW Sydney survey of 365 Australian adolescents aged 10 to 15 found that the age at which kids first started using social media was linked to the rate of self-reported anxiety and depression.
Children who started using social media at a younger age were more likely to report symptoms of anxiety and depression, while simply having an account appeared to matter less.
70 percent of the kids surveyed had used social media, about half of whom already had an account. The average age of first use was 11 years old.
“What surprised us was that the age children first started using social media appeared to matter more for their mental health than simply whether they had an account,” study chief investigator Associate Professor Susanne Schweizer says.
“It suggests that delaying children’s first exposure may be a promising policy, especially if paired with training good digital hygiene and citizenship during the delay.”
The same group found that face-to-face interactions left teens feeling more positive than online ones, though socially sensitive teens found online interaction easier in the short term.
What about the social media ban?
So far, the ban on social media for under-16s appears to have had little effect. An eSafety compliance report has found that more than 80 percent of teenagers were still using social media three months after the ban. Account ownership dropped from 52 percent to 42 percent, but daily use stayed fairly steady from 60 percent to 58 percent.
The government has doubled the penalty on non-compliant platforms and is investigating Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat, TikTok, and YouTube for possible non-compliance. It also aims to give the eSafety Commissioner more information-gathering powers.
Amid the UNSW findings, this seems like a lot of regulation for a problem that could be alleviated at home and at school. If age of first use and quality of real-world relationships are protective factors, legislation has little to do with the result.
The kids themselves aren’t on board with the ban, either. Only 25 percent said they intended to stop using social media after the ban. One third said they planned to keep using the platforms without an account. A similar amount said they intended to find a way around the restrictions altogether, such as with a VPN or other workarounds.
Meta’s teen harm settlements
UNSW’s findings coincide with Meta’s USD $18 billion settlement that suggests the company knew exactly what it was doing.
Virginia Attorney-General Jay Jones said Meta “intentionally deceived the public about the addictive and harmful design features that have wreaked havoc on youth mental health.”
A bipartisan coalition of attorneys-general from several states filed a mass lawsuit against Meta in 2023, accusing the company of designing addictive features that keep teenagers hooked. The case also alleged Meta broke US federal law by collecting data on children under 13 years old without parental consent.
These allegations followed a report from the Wall Street Journal in 2021 alleging that Meta knew Instagram could damage the mental health and body image of teenagers, and particularly teenage girls.
The trial had barely started with Instagram chief Adam Mosseri testifying and defending Meta’s record on child safety and privacy. Mark Zuckerberg himself was expected to take the stand in the case, but a settlement was reached beforehand.
Alongside the settlement, Meta is bringing in a daily time cap and pauses for children on Instagram and Facebook, no push notifications during weekday school hours, stronger age assurance, and content controls aimed at bullying and undesirable content like eating disorders and self-harm. Limits on social comparison and competition features like “like” counts will also be implemented.
Our take
The direction of the data so far on the social media ban isn’t encouraging. Usage is barely down, enforcement is expensive, and the biggest factor on mental health outcomes – age of first use – sits in parents’ hands already.
Additionally, the eSafety report itself shows parental awareness of kids’ social media habits has dropped since the ban started. It’s possible parents feel the onus of responsibility has shifted to the government, or that they trust the ban actually works where it may not.
The UNSW research is continuing, and this release is just the first part of a larger study that aims to follow young people before and after the social media ban. Researchers will track participants over the next year to see changes in behaviour, attitudes, mental health, and exposure to online harm.
“This is one of the first opportunities anywhere in the world to understand what happens when a policy like this is introduced. We now need to follow these young people over time to see whether our teenagers benefit from the new restrictions, and what could be improved,” said A/Prof. Schweizer.
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