<p>Court documents reveal staff considered ways to ‘get academic community to disavow’ influential US author </p><p>Meta staff discussed deploying a “whisper strategy” to undermine the influential US academic whose work has inspired a global <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2026/oct/29/id-social-media-ban-snapchat-tiktok-teenagers">social media crackdown</a>, according to court documents.</p><p>Employees at the parent group of Facebook and Instagram sought to discredit Jonathan Haidt, the social psychologist and author of <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/books/2024/mar/21/the-anxious-generation-by-jonathan-haidt-a-pocket-full-of-poison">The Anxious Generation</a>, a book that helped tip the debate about online safety towards more stringent measures such as the under-16 ban in Australia.</p> <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2026/oct/29/meta-staff-us-social-media-critic-jonathan-haidt-court-documents">Continue reading...</a>
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Meta discussed ‘whisper strategy’ against social media critic Jonathan Haidt, files show
<p>Court documents reveal staff considered ways to ‘get academic community to disavow’ influential US author </p><p>Meta staff discussed deploying a “whisper strategy” to undermine the influential US academic whose work has inspired a global <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2026/oct/29/id-social-media-ban-snapchat-tiktok-teenagers">social media crackdown</a>, according to court documents.</p><p>Employees at the parent group of Facebook and Instagram sought to discredit Jonathan Haidt, the social psychologist and author of <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/books/2024/mar/21/the-anxious-generation-by-jonathan-haidt-a-pocket-full-of-poison">The Anxious Generation</a>, a book that helped tip the debate about online safety towards more stringent measures such as the under-16 ban in Australia.</p> <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2026/oct/29/meta-staff-us-social-media-critic-jonathan-haidt-court-documents">Continue reading...</a>