On October 27, 2026, The New York Post reported that notes from a March 2023 Meta well-being meeting described discussion of ways to discredit social psychologist Jonathan Haidt, including efforts to influence reporters and academics. The Post said it was unclear whether Meta acted on the ideas. It placed the records’ unsealing on the Friday before its report, October 23, 2026.
What the meeting notes reportedly described
According to the Post, the notes discussed persuading reporters to question Haidt’s credibility and possibly turning academics against him. They also reportedly raised a “whisper strategy” and the possibility of asking someone identified as “Gellman” to write a takedown.
Haidt, who has criticized social media’s effects on young people, told the Post that he viewed the discussions as an attempt to manipulate scientific debate. The Post said Meta had not immediately returned its request for comment by publication on October 27.
Separate emails concerned youth well-being
The Post described a separate March 2023 email exchange in which an employee complained that Meta’s legal team was trying to block or redesign a planned study of youth social-emotional trends.
In a December 2022 email, former Meta global affairs head Nick Clegg wrote that a possible presentation to the National Academies of Sciences could prompt questions about app design that Meta had hoped to avoid.
The litigation behind the disclosure
The Post placed the records in California federal multidistrict litigation over claims of social-media addiction and online harm. It reported that Judge Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers appointed retired U.S. Judge Suzanne Segal as special master to review privilege classifications for about 170,000 company documents.
