Overview
- An internal study reviewed by Reuters found teens who often felt worse about their bodies saw 10.5% eating‑disorder‑adjacent posts versus 3.3% for peers.
- Researchers also logged higher exposure to provocative categories, with such content comprising 27% of feeds for the most negatively affected teens compared with 13.6% for others.
- The analysis covered 1,149 U.S. teens during the 2023–2024 school year and included three months of manual sampling of the posts they were shown.
- Meta’s researchers cautioned the findings show association rather than causation and acknowledged vulnerable teens may seek out such material.
- Meta said existing tools missed 98.5% of sensitive content flagged by researchers and cited recent steps including PG‑13 guidance and halving age‑restricted content shown to teens since July.