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Internal Meta Study Finds Instagram Shows More “Eating Disorder-Adjacent” Content to Vulnerable Teens

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An internal Meta study reviewed by Reuters has revealed that teenagers who report feeling bad about their bodies after using Instagram are shown significantly more “eating disorder-adjacent” content than their peers. The internal document, marked “Do not distribute,” highlights serious concerns about how Instagram’s recommendation system interacts with vulnerable teens.

Meta researchers surveyed 1,149 teenagers throughout the 2023–2024 school year and analyzed the posts appearing in their feeds. Among the 223 teens who said Instagram regularly made them feel worse about their bodies, 10.5% of their feed contained body-focused or disordered-eating-related content — three times higher than the 3.3% seen by other teens. The flagged posts prominently displayed body parts, expressed judgment about physical appearance, or included material associated with negative body image.

Researchers also found that these same teens encountered more “mature” and “provocative” content overall — material involving risk-taking, suffering, and cruelty — which made up 27% of their feed compared to 13.6% for others. While the study could not prove Instagram directly worsens self-esteem, the correlation raised alarms among Meta’s internal experts.

Meta spokesperson Andy Stone said the findings show the company’s commitment to making platforms safer for young people. However, the report revealed that Meta’s moderation tools failed to detect 98.5% of sensitive content potentially inappropriate for teens. Pediatric experts like Jenny Radesky from the University of Michigan called the results “deeply disturbing,” warning that Instagram’s algorithm may be “profiling vulnerable teens and feeding them more harmful content.”

The findings come as Meta faces ongoing lawsuits and investigations in the United States over its alleged failure to protect minors and the mental health risks tied to Instagram’s design.

Meta to invest $1.5 billion in massive AI data center in Texas

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Meta Platforms announced plans to invest $1.5 billion in a new data center in El Paso, Texas, marking its 29th global facility and third in the state, as part of its ongoing expansion to support artificial intelligence workloads. The new site will be one of the largest in the U.S., capable of scaling to 1 gigawatt of power — enough to supply a city the size of San Francisco for a full day.

Expected to go online in 2028, the El Paso data center will create around 100 permanent jobs and employ more than 1,800 construction workers at peak development. Meta said it chose El Paso for its strong electrical grid, skilled workforce, and access to renewable energy.

The project is part of a broader race among tech giants to build infrastructure for AI. Amazon, Alphabet, Microsoft, and Meta together are projected to spend more than $360 billion in 2025 on cloud and AI infrastructure, most of it directed toward data centers.

Meta has already invested over $10 billion in Texas and employs more than 2,500 people statewide. The company said the new facility will be powered by 100% renewable energy and use a closed-loop, liquid-cooling system to recycle water continuously. It also pledged to restore twice the water consumed by the site to local watersheds, exceeding its 2030 sustainability goal of becoming “water-positive.”

Jon Barela, CEO of the Borderplex Alliance, which helped facilitate the project, described Meta as “the fastest gazelle in the industry,” noting that the deal stemmed from discussions with Texas Governor Greg Abbott’s office four years ago and was supported by a package of local tax incentives.

Apple AI executive Ke Yang departs for Meta amid intensifying talent war

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Apple has lost another key artificial intelligence executive to Meta, as competition for top AI talent across Silicon Valley continues to escalate. Ke Yang, who was recently appointed to lead Apple’s new Answers, Knowledge and Information (AKI) division — a team central to the overhaul of Siri and Apple’s web-based AI search project — is reportedly leaving to join Meta Platforms, according to Bloomberg News.

Yang’s departure comes just weeks after her promotion, which positioned her at the forefront of Apple’s push to develop a ChatGPT-like AI-driven search tool. The project was expected to debut in March as part of Apple’s broader effort to integrate generative AI into its ecosystem.

Neither Apple, Meta, nor Yang have commented publicly on the move. Yang joined Apple in 2019, according to her LinkedIn profile.

Meta, led by Mark Zuckerberg, has been aggressively recruiting AI experts from competitors including Apple, Google, OpenAI, and Anthropic, as major tech firms pour billions into advancing generative AI and large language models. Bloomberg previously reported that other Apple executives, including Ruoming Pang and Robby Walker, have also recently left the company amid the growing AI talent war.

The move underscores the fierce competition among tech giants seeking to gain an edge in the race toward AI-powered search and digital assistants — a space increasingly defined by breakthroughs in conversational models and multimodal intelligence.