Key facts
- Meta staff discussed a "whisper strategy" to discredit academic Jonathan Haidt.
- The discussions aimed to make Haidt appear not credible to the media.
- Minutes from a March 8, 2023 meeting are included in the legal filing.
- Andrew Gelman denied being hired by Meta to write a takedown piece on Haidt.
Meta staff discussed deploying a "whisper strategy" to undermine influential US academic Jonathan Haidt, whose work has inspired global social media crackdowns, according to court documents. Employees at the parent group of Facebook and Instagram sought to discredit Haidt, a social psychologist and author of "The Anxious Generation," a book that has pushed for more stringent measures like Australia's under-16 ban. Minutes from internal meetings, contained in a recent legal filing, showed discussions on how to "get the academic community to disavow Haidt" and "turn other academics against Haidt."
The minutes from a March 8, 2023 meeting mentioned "Curtiss," an apparent reference to Meta’s then vice-president of research, Curtiss Cobb, stating his goal was to "enrage" academics so the media would find Haidt not credible. The strategy was described as "below-the-line" and suggested getting someone named "Gellman" to write a "takedown piece." Andrew Gelman, a professor of statistics and political science at Columbia University, denied being hired by Meta for such a purpose, though he acknowledged receiving money from the company in the past on a "no-strings" basis. Haidt's book argues that widespread smartphone use has caused a mental health crisis for young people and has made him a persuasive advocate for strict digital media regulation. The minutes were produced before Haidt published his book and discuss responding to a Substack post he wrote. It is unclear if Meta acted on these ideas. Haidt told The Verge he was "not surprised" by the discussions, stating, "When companies can’t dispute the evidence, they go after the messenger."