Sources

1. Meta ARPU / revenue: Meta quarterly earnings reports (2025) — global ARPU $57.03 (2025), North America ~5–6× the global average.
2. "We make body image issues worse for one in three teen girls" — internal Meta slide (March 2020), reported by the Wall Street Journal, Sept. 14, 2021; Congressional exhibit: docs.house.gov/meetings/IF/IF16/20211201/114268/HHRG-117-IF16-20211201-SD010.pdf
3. TikTok internal documents unsealed in Kentucky AG lawsuit, published by NPR/Kentucky Public Radio, Oct. 11, 2024: npr.org/2024/10/11/nx-s1-5150088
4. Angry-reaction 5× weighting: The Facebook Files, Wall Street Journal (2021).
5. LA bellwether verdict: cnbc.com/2026/03/25/meta-youtube-los-angeles-california-verdict.html (Mar. 25, 2026)
6. Commonwealth v. Meta Platforms, SJC-13747 (Mass. Apr. 10, 2026): law.justia.com/cases/massachusetts/supreme-court/2026/sjc-13747.html
7. EU DSA preliminary findings (Jul. 10, 2026): techtimes.com/articles/320180/20260711/eu-charges-meta-addictive-design-infinite-scroll-violates-dsa-health-rules.htm
8. New Mexico v. Meta rulings (Mar. 24 + Aug. 7, 2026): nbcnews.com (jury verdict, $375M); foxbusiness.com (abatement order, $567M)

1. Kramer, A.D.I., Guillory, J.E., & Hancock, J.T. (2014). "Experimental evidence of massive-scale emotional contagion through social networks." PNAS, 111(24), 8788–8790 — the 689,003-user emotional contagion experiment.
2. Wall Street Journal, "The Facebook Files" series (September–October 2021) — angry-reaction 5× weighting; "Our algorithms exploit the human brain's attraction to divisiveness"; the 2018 MSI backfire; internal teen-harm research.
3. Frances Haugen: SEC whistleblower filings and U.S. Senate testimony (Oct. 5, 2021); "The Facebook Papers," published by a consortium of 17+ news organizations (Oct. 25, 2021).
4. Internal 2020 Facebook study: 64% of extremist-group joins driven by the platform's own recommendations (reported in The Facebook Files, 2021).
5. The Guardian & The New York Times, Cambridge Analytica investigation (Mar. 17, 2018); UK Information Commissioner's Office £500,000 penalty (2018).
6. U.S. Federal Trade Commission, $5 billion settlement press release and consent order (Jul. 24, 2019).
7. Irish Data Protection Commission decisions (2021–2023): €225M WhatsApp; €265M data-breach; €390M behavioral advertising; €1.2B EU–US data transfers. Texas AG biometric settlement, $1.4B (2024).
8. New York Times, secret data-sharing partnerships investigation — 150+ companies, incl. Netflix/Spotify message access (Dec. 2018).
9. UN Independent International Fact-Finding Mission on Myanmar (2018); BSR, Human Rights Impact Assessment of Facebook in Myanmar (2018).
10. BuzzFeed News, fake-news vs. real-news engagement analysis, 2016 election (Nov. 2016); U.S. Senate Intelligence Committee reports on Russian interference (2019).
11. Center for Countering Digital Hate, "The Disinformation Dozen" (2021); Avaaz, health-misinformation views analysis (2020).
12. The Verge (Casey Newton), content-moderator working-conditions investigation (2019); $52M moderator settlement (2020).
13. Sean Parker remarks at an Axios event, Nov. 9, 2017: axios.com — "exploiting a vulnerability in human psychology."
14. Aza Raskin (inventor of infinite scroll), BBC Panorama, "Smartphones: The Dark Side" (Jul. 2018) — "behavioural cocaine … sprinkled all over your interface." Summary: bgr.com
15. Haidt, J. (2024). The Anxious Generation. Penguin Press. Twenge & Campbell (2018), Clinical Psychological Science; Royal Society for Public Health, "#StatusOfMind" (2017).
16. Meta quarterly earnings reports and SEC proxy filings — revenue (98% advertising, $200.97B in 2025), ARPU, Reality Labs losses, executive security costs.

1. WSJ, "Facebook Knows Instagram Is Toxic for Teen Girls, Company Documents Show" (Sept. 14, 2021); Congressional exhibit: docs.house.gov PDF
2. Fairplay, slide-level summaries of the leaked internal Instagram research: fairplayforkids.org
3. Arturo Béjar, Senate Judiciary Subcommittee testimony (Nov. 7, 2023) — "BEEF" survey data, unanswered emails to Zuckerberg: written testimony (PDF); coverage: npr.org
4. 41-state + D.C. lawsuit against Meta (Oct. 24, 2023): pbs.org/newshour
5. Unredacted federal complaint — Zuckerberg's April 2020 veto of the plastic-surgery-filter ban (Nov. 27, 2023): fortune.com
6. July 1, 2026 ruling denying Meta summary judgment and granting states partial summary judgment on COPPA; trial set Aug. 18, 2026: law.com/therecorder
7. WSJ / Stanford Internet Observatory / UMass Amherst — Instagram's recommendation systems promoting a network of child-sex-content accounts (Jun. 7, 2023): variety.com summary
8. WSJ — Reels serving sexualized content involving minors to adults who follow children; advertiser pullout (Nov. 27, 2023): foxbusiness.com summary
9. Fairplay, "Designing for Disorder: Instagram's Pro-eating Disorder Bubble" (Apr. 14, 2022): report PDF
10. Sen. Blumenthal's office / CNN test — teen account steered to pro-eating-disorder content within a day (Oct. 2021): cnn.com
11. Digitalt Ansvar — Instagram removed 0 of 85 escalating self-harm images; algorithm helped the network grow (Nov. 30, 2024): theguardian.com
12. Molly Russell inquest — coroner's conclusion (Sept. 30, 2022): techcrunch.com; Prevention of Future Deaths report (Oct. 13, 2022): judiciary.uk
13. "Project Daisy" (hidden like counts) — Harvard Shorenstein Center case study (Nov. 2023): discussion paper PDF
14. "Snapchat dysmorphia" — Boston University dermatologists, JAMA Facial Plastic Surgery viewpoint (Aug. 2018): bu.edu; Jia Tolentino, "The Age of Instagram Face," The New Yorker (Dec. 12, 2019): newyorker.com
15. Braghieri, L., Levy, R., & Makarin, A. (2022). "Social Media and Mental Health." American Economic Review, 112(11), 3660–3693: aeaweb.org
16. Allcott, Gentzkow, Wittenbrink et al., "The Effect of Deactivating Facebook and Instagram on Users' Emotional State" (NBER WP 33697, Apr. 2025) — Instagram benefit concentrated among women under 25: nber.org
17. Experimental body-image studies: Engeln et al., Body Image 34 (2020): pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov; Kleemans et al., "Picture Perfect," Media Psychology 21(1) (2018): tandfonline.com
18. "Project Mercury" — Meta's halted internal deactivation research, unsealed Nov. 2025: cnbc.com
19. "Teen Accounts, Broken Promises" — 47 safety features tested, 64% ineffective or discontinued (Sept. 2025): report PDF; time.com
20. EU Commission formal DSA proceedings against Meta on protection of minors (May 16, 2024): digital-strategy.ec.europa.eu

1. WSJ video investigation, "How TikTok's Algorithm Figures Out Your Deepest Desires" (Jul. 21, 2021): wsj.com
2. Center for Countering Digital Hate, "Deadly by Design" (Dec. 2022) — suicide content in 2.6 minutes, eating-disorder content in 8: counterhate.com
3. Amnesty International, "Driven into the Darkness" / "I Feel Exposed" (Nov. 7, 2023): amnesty.org
4. Amnesty International follow-up, "Dragged into the Rabbit Hole" (Oct. 20, 2025): full report PDF
5. TikTok internal documents unsealed in the Kentucky AG suit — "35 minutes to addiction," time-limit tool "a good talking point," beauty-norm boosting, filter bubbles, moderation leakage rates (NPR/KPR, Oct. 11–12, 2024): npr.org (Oct. 11); npr.org (Oct. 12)
6. 14-attorneys-general lawsuits (Oct. 8, 2024): oag.ca.gov; ag.ny.gov
7. Kentucky court denies TikTok's motion to dismiss (Feb. 23, 2026): lpm.org
8. Utah lawsuit — TikTok LIVE as a "virtual strip club" (Jun. 3, 2024): commerce.utah.gov
9. FTC — Musical.ly (TikTok) $5.7M COPPA settlement (Feb. 27, 2019): ftc.gov
10. DOJ/FTC COPPA suit against TikTok and ByteDance (Aug. 2, 2024): justice.gov
11. Bellwether settlements before trial: K.G.M. (Jan. 30, 2026): topclassactions.com; Florida teen (Jun. 30, 2026): nbcnews.com
12. WSJ (Julie Jargon), "TikTok Brain Explained" (Apr. 2, 2022): wsj.com
13. Nguyen et al., "Feeds, Feelings, and Focus," Psychological Bulletin meta-analysis, ~70 studies, N=98,299 (Dec. 2025): psypost.org summary
14. Pew Research Center, "Teens, Social Media and Technology 2024" (Dec. 12, 2024): pewresearch.org
15. Bloomberg Businessweek, blackout-challenge deaths — at least 20 children in 18 months (Nov. 30, 2022): bloomberg.com
16. Anderson v. TikTok, Third Circuit opinion — algorithmic curation is TikTok's own speech, not shielded by Section 230 (Aug. 27, 2024): opinion PDF
17. Nazario v. TikTok et al. (subway surfing) allowed to proceed (Jul. 9, 2025): gothamist.com
18. Felix Krause, in-app browser JavaScript injection research (Aug. 2022): forbes.com
19. BuzzFeed News, leaked internal meeting audio — China-based ByteDance access to US data (Jun. 17, 2022): buzzfeednews.com; journalist surveillance admission (Dec. 22, 2022): forbes.com
20. Blackburn & Hogg, randomized "thinspiration" exposure study, PLOS One (Aug. 7, 2024): journals.plos.org

The core evidence base for What You Get Back. A fuller study-by-study list, including the physical-health and relationship research, appears at the foot of that page.

1. Hunt, M.G., Marx, R., Lipson, C., & Young, J. (2018). "No More FOMO: Limiting Social Media Decreases Loneliness and Depression." Journal of Social and Clinical Psychology, 37(10), 751–768. penntoday.upenn.edu
2. Allcott, H., Braghieri, L., Eichmeyer, S., & Gentzkow, M. (2020). "The Welfare Effects of Social Media." American Economic Review, 110(3), 629–676. aeaweb.org
3. Lambert, J., et al. (2022). "Taking a One-Week Break from Social Media Improves Well-Being, Depression, and Anxiety." Cyberpsychology, Behavior, and Social Networking, 25(5), 287–293. researchportal.bath.ac.uk
4. Braghieri, L., Levy, R., & Makarin, A. (2022). "Social Media and Mental Health." American Economic Review, 112(11), 3660–3693. aeaweb.org
5. Faulhaber, E., Lee, J.E., & Gentile, D.A. (2023). "Limiting Social Media Use Decreases Depression, Anxiety, and FOMO." Technology, Mind, and Behavior. news.iastate.edu
6. "Reducing Social Media Use Decreases Depression Symptoms: A Meta-Analysis of Randomised Controlled Trials." European Journal of Investigation in Health, Psychology and Education, 15(11), 222 (2024/2025).
7. "The effects of social media restriction: Meta-analytic evidence from randomized controlled trials." Current Research in Behavioral Sciences (2025). sciencedirect.com
8. "Digital Detox Strategies and Mental Health: A Comprehensive Scoping Review." Cureus (2025). PMC11871965
9. "Impacts of digital social media detox for mental health: A systematic review and meta-analysis" (2024). PMC11392003
10. Facebook/Meta internal research documents, leaked by Frances Haugen (2021), as reported in the Wall Street Journal "Facebook Files" series.
11. Newport, C. (2019). Digital Minimalism: Choosing a Focused Life in a Noisy World. Portfolio/Penguin.
12. Price, C. (2018; revised 2024). How to Break Up with Your Phone. Ten Speed Press.
13. Australia: Online Safety Amendment (Social Media Minimum Age) Act 2024; ban in effect Dec. 10, 2025. Nature feature; MCRI Connected Minds Study
14. Haidt, J. (2024). The Anxious Generation. Penguin Press.

All tool and settings links on Take Action and Alternatives are official pages, verified August 2026.

1. Account deletion, deactivation, and data-download links: official Facebook, Instagram, and TikTok help-center pages (facebook.com/help, help.instagram.com, support.tiktok.com), verified August 2026.
2. Feed, notification, ad-preference, and algorithm-reset settings guides: official Meta and TikTok help-center and announcement pages, verified August 2026. Settings paths change frequently; where a path has moved, start from each app's main Settings menu.
3. Screen-time and friction tools: Apple Screen Time and Android Digital Wellbeing official support pages; developer sites for one sec, ScreenZen, Opal, Freedom, and AppBlock; Chrome Web Store listings for News Feed Eradicator, Unhook, and Intention — all verified August 2026.
4. Alternatives: official sites of each recommended service (Signal, Mastodon, Bluesky, Discord, Feedly, Inoreader, NetNewsWire, Feedbin, Substack, Pocket Casts, AntennaPod, Partiful, and others), verified August 2026.
5. Center for Humane Technology: humanetech.com