Meta planned quiet push to weaken Jonathan Haidt, documents show

Meta employees discussed a quiet plan to undermine Jonathan Haidt, the social psychologist whose work helped drive global calls for stricter social media regulations. According to court documents, staff sought to discredit Haidt by turning the academic community against him rather than launching a public counterattack.

The documents, titled “Well-being Meeting Sound-check Notes,” detail discussions on how to make Haidt appear less credible to the media. The notes suggest a “below-the-line campaign” designed to get the academic community to disavow his findings. The strategy involved getting other scholars to criticize Haidt, effectively debunking his work through peers.

The plan was first outlined in minutes from a meeting held on March 8, 2023. The notes reference “Curtiss,” identified as Curtiss Cobb, Meta’s then vice president of research. Cobb’s stated goal was to figure out how to enrage other academics so that the media would find Haidt not credible. The document notes that Meta could not co-opt these scholars, so it needed to provoke them instead.

The minutes also mention a figure named “Gellman” who could write a “takedown piece.” This reference appears to point to Andrew Gelman, a professor of statistics and political science at Columbia University. In a blog post published this week, Gelman stated he was “never hired by Facebook to do a hit job on Jonathan Haidt.” He acknowledged receiving money from Mark Zuckerberg’s company in the past on a no-strings basis but said he was never asked by Meta to evaluate the impact of social media on teenagers.

Haidt’s 2024 book, The Anxious Generation, argued that widespread smartphone use caused a mental health crisis among young people. His advocacy has influenced policy discussions, including a recent request from UK Health Secretary Wes Streeting for Haidt to advise officials on a possible social media ban for under-16s. The internal meeting notes predate the book’s release and were a response to a Substack post by Haidt in which he reviewed several articles.

The documents emerged from litigation filed by school districts suing the company. In a statement to The Verge, Haidt said he was “not surprised” by the discussions. He noted that when companies cannot dispute the evidence, they go after the messenger. Meta has been approached for comment.

It is not clear whether Meta acted on the specific ideas outlined in the 2023 minutes. The company’s parent group owns Facebook and Instagram, both of which face scrutiny over how their platforms affect younger users.