Winning Negative Social Comparison at Instagram

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Case 4:22-md-03047-YGR Document 2758-38 Filed 02/20/26 Page 1 of 10 AMENDED Exhibit 384 PLAINTIFFS' OMNIBUS OPPOSITION TO DEFENDANTS' MOTIONS FOR SUMMARY JUDGMENT Case No.: 4:22-md-03047-YGR MDL No. 3047 In Re: Social Media Adolescent Addiction/Personal Injury Products Liability Litigation Case 4:22-md-03047-YGR Document 2758-38 Filed 02/20/26 Page 2 of 10 Winning Negative Social Comparison at Instagram Save and Shruti Bhutada Last edited September 7, 2021 11 minute read Winning Negative Social Comparison at Instagram - with Shruti Bhutada Tl;dr • A lot of NSC has been attributed to celebrities and influencers, and we've currently been looking at controls and ranking to solve this. • However, it's not an influencer problem, it's a culture problem. Those influencers might be responding to Instagram's culture and norms by filling their Instagram profiles with HIGHLY CONFIDENTIAL (COMPETITOR) ΜΕΤΑ3047MDL-003-00048544 Case 4:22-md-03047-YGR Document 2758-38 Filed 02/20/26 Page 3 of 10 NSC triggering content in a way that doesn't seem to be happening on TikTok or other platforms. • Thus, controls and ranking are a starting point but not a final solution. Ultimately, winning requires IG to reshape its culture and norms. • How do we win by reshaping culture and norms? • Have a stronger public voice about what Instagram wants the culture and norms to be, especially for teens. • Partner with celebrities and influencers to change the norms so they can bring their fun, entertaining, authentic selves to Instagram. • Pursue big bets that facilitate new norms. We need to change what is produced, not just what is hidden. • Start iterating on voice, partnerships, and bets in H2, because getting alignment on these will require hard conversations, a lot of conviction, and a lot of time. Motivation BODY, APPEARANCE COMPARISON None Low Medium High VSCO SNAPCHAT TIKTOK ل INSTAGRAM Dream, Not Reality VSCO Unachievable Removed from reality F4 Layers Snapchat Friends, but.. Fun Filter Face (vs. body) Shifting, Increased Usage, Tik Tok Talent to Aesthetic Just like me Fun, joking, dancing Talent over aesthetic, but switching Popular influencers are thin/attractive Spend 4+ hr/day Instagram Celebrity Standards of "Reality" Forget it's a highlight, reel vs. real Product mechanics (addicting) Explore, discover, stalk (down the rabbit hole) Sport- 1 hour to edit image/caption, then monitor "likes" Negative social comparison (NSC, defined in our people problems) is a significant problem on Instagram, with 68% of teen girls experiencing negative social comparison on Instagram and users saying that Instagram exacerbates the problem more than any other mental health problem. Media, policy partners, and governments have also been vocal about Instagram's role in encouraging social comparison that can lead to anxiety, stress, and depression. While NSC is not unique to Instagram, users feel that NSC is more common on IG (also see the quant results) than any competitors or the Facebook app. In an early 2020 IG Mental Health user study, 15 participants ranked IG in its own separate tier for most NSC (see graph above). The effect of NSC on people's mental health could also have a cost on growth, and could prompt users to leave Instagram. Over half of users are replacing time on Instagram with other social media apps, and one of the main drivers is that teens feel pressure to post polished content (also see this study about why TikTok is being hired over Instagram, which mentions pressure to be perfect). In a study on user churn, social comparison was the top selected reason for users who left Instagram due to negative experiences (arguably the "nothing to post" reason also may be affected by NSC and pressure to be perfect). What might cause NSC? "Triggering" Celebrities and Influencers Although we do not yet have a top level metric for measuring NSC, content from celebrities and influencers around topics like body, fitness, appearance, travel, lifestyle tend to be highly correlated with NSC. This CDS note found: "Content from top accounts and non-friends about fashion/beauty/romance is likely problematic, while content from friends about these topics is not." In some user studies, participants even directly called out specific celebrities as causing a lot of NSC. Additionally, there's some research that the closeness of a connection is correlated with how much NSC people experience from that connection. HIGHLY CONFIDENTIAL (COMPETITOR) ΜΕΤΑ3047MDL-003-00048545 Case 4:22-md-03047-YGR Document 2758-38 Filed 02/20/26 Page 4 of 10 HIGHLY CONFIDENTIAL (COMPETITOR) ΜΕΤΑ3047MDL-003-00048546 Case 4:22 md 03047 YGR Document 2758 29 Filed 02/20/26 Page 5 of 10 HIGHLY CONFIDENTIAL (COMPETITOR) META3047MDL-003-00048547 Case 4:22-md-03047-YGR Document 2758-38 Filed 02/20/26 Page 6 of 10 HIGHLY CONFIDENTIAL (COMPETITOR) META3047MDL-003-00048548 Case 4:22.md-03047.VCP Document 2758-38 Filed 02/20/26 Page 7 of 10 Page HIGHLY CONFIDENTIAL (COMPETITOR) META3047MDL-003-00048549 Case 4:22-md-03047-YGR Document 2758-38 Filed 02/20/26 Page 8 of 10 HIGHLY CONFIDENTIAL (COMPETITOR) META3047MDL-003-00048550 Case 4:22-md-03047-YGR Document 2758-38 Filed 02/20/26 Page 9 of 10 HIGHLY CONFIDENTIAL (COMPETITOR) ΜΕΤΑ3047MDL-003-00048551 Case 4:22-md-03047-YGR Document 2758-38 Filed 02/20/26 Page 10 of 10 HIGHLY CONFIDENTIAL (COMPETITOR) META3047MDL-003-00048552