{"id":10510,"date":"2026-11-13T14:31:56","date_gmt":"2026-11-13T14:31:56","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/silvybrand.com\/?p=10510"},"modified":"2026-11-13T14:31:56","modified_gmt":"2026-11-13T14:31:56","slug":"jonathan-haidt-critics-response-meta","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/silvybrand.com\/?p=10510","title":{"rendered":"Meta discussed attacking Jonathan Haidt \u2014 now even his haters are annoyed"},"content":{"rendered":"


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Three years ago, Meta apparently considered a plan to turn public opinion against one of its most influential opponents, Jonathan Haidt. But since the proposal was revealed in court filings last month, it\u2019s backfired. In fact, if there\u2019s one thing Anxious Generation<\/em> author Haidt and his critics can agree on, it\u2019s being mad at Meta.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Recent court filings in California revealed that Meta employees had discussed in 2023 a \u201cWhisper strategy<\/a>\u201d to \u201cturn academics against Haidt,\u201d who would soon publish a bestselling book arguing that platforms like Meta\u2019s were hurting kids. Haidt had spent years popularizing his theory that social media and smartphones are to blame for the decline in teens\u2019 mental health, including in his 2018 book<\/a> The Coddling of the American Mind<\/em> and before Congress in 2022<\/a>. To counter it, Meta apparently considered a \u201cBelow-the-line campaign,\u201d including one idea to \u201cGet Gellman to write a take-down piece\u201d \u2014 possibly a reference to Columbia University statistics and political science professor Andrew Gelman, who\u2019d previously publicly critiqued Haidt, though the spelling differs.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Meta employees had discussed in 2023 a \u201cWhisper strategy\u201d to \u201cturn academics against Haidt\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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It\u2019s unclear if Meta ever acted on the strategy those employees appeared to consider. But the revelation has stirred up a much louder backlash among both Haidt and his most prominent detractors, most of whom weren\u2019t mentioned by name. Meta declined to comment for this article.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Several academics have come forward to insist Meta had no hand in their opposition to Haidt. \u201cNo. I was not paid to critique the Anxious Generation. I came to the conclusion that the science featured in it was flawed all on my own,\u201d reads the title of a Substack post<\/a> from Candice Odgers, a prominent psychology professor who studies the effects of tech on teens and has frequently critiqued<\/a> Haidt\u2019s work. \u201cI have never been approached by Meta to shape what I say publicly about the research on adolescents and social media,\u201d Odgers wrote. \u201cMy views are my own<\/a>, and are grounded in the years of<\/a> research<\/a> I\u2019ve done on this topic.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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\u201cNo. I was not paid to critique the Anxious Generation\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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\u201cThese days, I have absolutely nothing nice to say about Meta-the-company despite knowing a few amazing people who work there. I think the company is unethical to the core,\u201d wrote danah boyd<\/a>, a communication professor at Cornell University who has studied how teens use social media<\/a>. \u201cBut I still stand by my research on teens and the research of others who have done rigorous analyses putting teens\u2019 lives into context.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Haidt is an extremely influential but polarizing figure. Through his bestselling book, The Anxious Generation<\/em>, and related writing, he has made the case that social media and smartphone access for kids has contributed to a significant decline in mental health. His work has found support among academics including frequent collaborator and San Diego State University psychology professor Jean Twenge, and Haidt has published responses<\/a> to the debate over his findings. But other longtime researchers in the field say the available evidence does not ultimately support his theory, and social media\u2019s impact on teens at the population level is at most mixed.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Though Gelman has previously critiqued Haidt\u2019s methods, this time he came to his defense, denouncing Meta\u2019s private discussions. \u201cI think it\u2019s horrible for Haidt that this happened to him,\u201d Gelman told The Verge<\/em> in an interview. He wrote on his blog<\/a> that he\u2019s \u201cnever been contacted by anyone at Facebook or Meta regarding Jonathan Haidt or his work.\u201d While he said he has received money from the company in the past, including a $25,000 \u201cno-strings-attached donation\u201d in 2016 through Columbia for his research, the money has never been related to \u201csocial media\u2019s impact on teen health.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Gelman says that Meta has every right to be in the conversation on the topic \u2014 but it should do so openly. \u201cDoing it behind the scenes, it\u2019s creepy. It\u2019s horrible. I have nothing good to say about that,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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\u201cThe idea that Meta would create a whisper campaign or whatever against any scholar is gross\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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\u201cThe idea that Meta would create a whisper campaign or whatever against any scholar is gross,\u201d said Chris Ferguson, a Stetson University psychology professor, in an email to The Verge<\/em>. Ferguson published a meta-analysis<\/a> of experimental studies on social media\u2019s impact on mental health that found limited evidence of a causal effect. Ferguson, who said he receives \u201cno funding from Meta or any other tech company,\u201d accused both Haidt and Meta of being \u201cmore similar than different.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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\u201cBoth have been aggressive, and a pernicious influence on our understanding of youth mental health,\u201d Ferguson wrote, saying that Haidt\u2019s viewpoint is not backed up by science. \u201cIt\u2019s possible to view Meta as a big, ugly, cynical, unethical company and, at the same time, view Jonathan Haidt as a pseudoscientist who should know better [than] to peddle nonsense capitalizing on parental fears for profit.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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The Meta meeting notes were disclosed on a court docket for a group of consolidated lawsuits against Meta and other social media companies alleging they misled the public about their services\u2019 safety risks to teens. Meta has recently faced several high-profile legal defeats<\/a> in similar cases that could cost it billions in penalties<\/a>, and separately settled claims from state attorneys general<\/a> for $17.1 billion.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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In a statement to The Verge<\/em>, Haidt said he\u2019s never suggested the researchers named in this article were paid by Meta to critique his work, and hasn\u2019t seen evidence to suggest that. \u201cAs a social psychologist who has studied the benefits of viewpoint diversity, I welcome opposing views and civil, rigorous scientific debate. Criticism by these researchers has caused me and my research group to dig deeper and sharpen our arguments,\u201d Haidt says, noting that his research group has published \u201cmultiple review papers\u201d laying out evidence that heavy social media use is harmful.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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\u201cI am glad to see that so many social scientists are expressing strong criticism of Meta\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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\u201cMeta\u2019s own internal studies confirm our finding. Meta\u2019s internal documents also show that the company discussed a plan to distort the academic debate and process, a tactic straight out of the Big Tobacco playbook,\u201d Haidt added. \u201cThat should concern anyone who cares about scientific integrity and the well-being of children. I am glad to see that so many social scientists are expressing strong criticism of Meta for doing so.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Ferguson said it\u2019s not healthy for science to be associated with any one individual, and that Haidt himself could do more to discourage that. \u201cI think people are slowly realizing it\u2019s possible both to believe that Meta is evil and Haidt is full of crap at the same time,\u201d Ferguson said.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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