Meta & Children's Online SafetyUnwanted DM Requests to Teens
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Case 4:22-md-03047-YGR Document 2885-17 Filed 03/26/26 Page 1 of 29 AMENDED Exhibit 35 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 2885-17 Filed 03/26/26 Page 2 of 29 Document Provided in Native Format Meta-Jayakumar- 71 3/6/2025 - MOP CONFIDENTIAL META3047MDL-155-00013089 Case 4:22-md-03047-YGR Document 2885-17 Filed 03/26/26 Page 3 of 29 Unwanted DM Requests to Teens March 2022 Internal Use Only | DO NOT DISTRIBUTE Case 4:22-md-03047-YGR Document 2885-17 Filed 03/26/26 1 TL;DR 2 3 Page 4 of 29 Teens are receiving many unwanted DM requests (DMs from unconnected people), leading to integrity risk and slowing down new teen acquisition Unwanted DM requests to teens are nearly all from people with no mutual followers We should default teens into a state that prevents others from sending them DM requests if they have no mutual followers Mutuall Follower Case 4:22-md-03047-YGR Document 2885-17 Filed 03/26/26 Page 5 of 29 Proposal 1. Strong: Block Block all DM requests to teens from senders with no mutual followers. Teens can't opt out. Given the vulnerability of teens, we recommend a medium prescriptive approach over a mild one. Existing solutions focused on severe violations will remain in place. 2. Medium: Default By default, teens will not get DM requests from people with no mutual followers. Teens who still want to get DM requests from these people can opt-in via a graph-based control. 3. Mild: Nudge The teen default experience will be as before. Create a graph- based control for who can DM request you, and nudge teens towards that control when we think they are receiving unwanted DM requests. Case 4:22-md-03047-YGR Document 2885-17 Filed 03/26/26 Page 6 of 29 Background What are unwanted DM requests, and how do they relate to teen integrity and acquisition risks? Case 4:22-md-03047-YGR Document 2885-17 Filed 03/26/26 Page 7 of 29 Unconnected DMs = DM requests, and most DM requests are unwanted Case 4:22-md-03047-YGR Document 2885-17 Filed 03/26/26 Page 8 of 29 What are DM Requests? DMs from people you don't follow land in the Requests folder • DMs from people you do follow go directly to your Primary inbox • DMs from unconnected people = DM requests, in IG's privacy model • This model is the same for public vs. private accounts, and those with high follower counts. < Edit < sandrita12378 ① Message requests Open a chat to get more info about who's messaging you. They won't know you've seen it until you accept. All requests Penelope Plumface Remember me from high schoo... now iambetween16and17 Could you help me log in please... 2m sandrita12378 Hi 1w Hidden Requests 0 > sandrita12378 Instagram 0 followers 0 posts You don't follow each other on Instagram New Instagram account View profile DM Request to Teen from an Unconnected Sender teen recipient DM REQUEST sender Delete all sandrita12378, who you don't follow, sent you a DM request 1:16 PM Hi Accept message request from sandrita12378? If you accept, members will also be able to call you and see info like your activity status and when you've read messages. Block Delete Accept If you want to respond, you have to tap Accept, which pulls the DM out of Message requests into Primary Following definitions from UXR, for IG someone is “unconnected" to you if you don't follow them on IG. In being "connected", we also include edge cases of interacting with them on Messenger or being friends with them on Facebook. See slide on more background on the definition of an unwanted message https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1E3zAmtCsfel3MXYDbspti3ECeh5PT- QmCE04dhajJ0s/edit#slide=id.g1131d1bf08f_0_126 Case 4:22-md-03047-YGR Document 2885-17 Filed 03/26/26 What are Unwanted DMs? Page 9 of 29 Based on a framework from the FB Messenger team, a DM is "unwanted" if it receives at least one of the following responses from the recipient: • Negative account response (high severity/confidence it is unwanted) Ο Restrict Ο Block Each day, over 4.1% of all teen DAU receive a DM request. • Ο Mute messages Ο Report Unfollow Negative thread actions (medium severity/confidence it is unwanted) 70% of those requests are unwanted. 70% of requests to teens are unwanted Ο Delete Ο Ignore (a) Negative responses are defined as occurring with 7d of receipt, following the Messenger Integrity team (b) Here ignore is passive, defined as not Accepting the request within 7d of receipt (c) Framework based off of FB Messenger unwanted message classification (link) (d) Estimates of % DAU are underestimates, since due to EPD, data excludes EU. (e) Each day, over 2.6% of all DAU receive a DM requests. Over 58% of those are unwanted. (1) Throughout this analysis, "teens" are IG's best estimate of actual teens, defined as coalesce(predicted teens, stated teens). Prediction has 80% recall and 95% precision in the US (link) (g) % of the DM requests are impressed teen DM recipient REQUEST sender See slide on more background on the definition of an unwanted message https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1E3zAmtCsfel3MXYDbspti3ECeh5PT- QmCE04dhajJ0s/edit#slide=id.g1131d1bf08f_0_126 Case 4:22-md-03047-YGR Document 2885-17 Filed 03/26/26 Page 10 of 29 Unwanted DM requests are integrity and acquisition risks for teens Case 4:22-md-03047-YGR Document 2885-17 Filed 03/26/26 Page 11 of 29 Major Integrity and Acquisition Risks for Teens from Unwanted DMs, According to UXR • • DM's are the most problematic interaction vector for teenagers on Instagram, including bullying, harassment, and more severe violations. (link) For early teens (13-15) in the US, lack of parent approval is the top reason they do not have an IG account, and the #2 reason they believe their parents are not OK with them using IG is unwanted people they don't know contacting them (link) "Inappropriate interactions are common... many users (particularly young girls), even expect to have these experiences when using Instagram, ".- external child safety partners (link) دو In recent interviews with external child safety partners, a key issue that they cite is that Case 4:22-md-03047-YGR Document 2885-17 Filed 03/26/26 Teens are More Likely to Receive DM requests... Teens are 50% more likely than non-teens to to receive a DM request 4.1% of Teen DAU receive a DM request, vs 2.6% of non-Teen DAU. % DAU Receiving DM Requests, Teen vs Non-Teens 5.0% 4.0% 4.1% 3.0% 2.0% 1.0% 0.0% 2.6% teens non-teens (a) Throughout this analysis, "teens" are IG's best estimate of actual teens, defined as coalesce(predicted teens, stated teens). Prediction has 80% recall and 95% precision in the US (link) (b) Estimates of % DAU are underestimates, since due to EPD, data excludes EU. Page 12 of 29 Case 4:22-md-03047-YGR Document 2885-17 Filed 03/26/26 Page 13 of 29 and Teens get a Larger Share of DM Requests that are Unwanted Teens are 2x likely than non-teens to receive an unwanted DM request 2.9% of Teen DAU receive an unwanted DM request, vs 1.4% of non-Teen DAU. % DAU Receiving DM Requests, Teen vs Non-Teens 5.0% 4.0% 4.1% 3.0% 2.9%: Unwanted 2.6% 2.0% 1.0% 0.0% 1.4%: Unwanted teens non-teens (a) Throughout this analysis, "teens" are IG's best estimate of actual teens, defined as coalesce(predicted teens, stated teens). Prediction has 80% recall and 95% precision in the US (link) (b) Estimates of % DAU are underestimates, since due to EPD, data excludes EU. Case 4:22-md-03047-YGR Document 2885-17 Filed 03/26/26 Page 14 of 29 How can we prevent teens from receiving unwanted DM requests? Who should be able to send a teen a DM request? Case 4:22-md-03047-YGR Document 2885-17 Filed 03/26/26 Page 15 of 29 Previous solutions focused on DM requests to teens sent from non-teens. teen recipient UNWANTED DM REQUEST non-teen sender Case 4:22-md-03047-YGR Document 2885-17 Filed 03/26/26 IG's Previous Effort to Block Non-teens from Sending DM Requests to Teens • A year ago, we promised to block teens from receiving DM requests from non-teens (link) We still allow the following types of senders to make DM requests to teen DAU: Ο Ο O Senders with stated age 18-20 (35% of DM requests to teens) Senders with no stated age (18% of DM requests to teens) Senders outside the US who state they are teens, but may not be teens ALLOWED DAM REOURIST ALLOWED DM REQUEST ALLOWED DM RECOURST Emma, 13 Mark, 20 Max, 15 Finley, 45, non- US, statos is a toon Bob, 7 stated age Maddie, 16 Page 16 of 29 Sender POV, IG's Previous Effort 9:41 < New Mossogo Chot To Supposted * Throughout this analysis, "teens" are IG's closest estimate to actual teens, defined as coalesce(predicted teens, stated teens). It has 80% recall and 95% precision in the US (link) 0 Case 4:22-md-03047-YGR Document 2885-17 Filed 03/26/26 Page 17 of 29 Previous Effort to Block Non-teens from Sending DM Requests to Teens Haven't Solved Teen Problems • In practice, there have been many gaps in fulfilling our promise: Ο In blocking DM requests, we use Ο stated age everywhere outside the US, but 60% of actual teens lie and say they're non-teens* Even now, 50% of DM requests to actual teens are from non-teens Unwanted DM requests are still a top user problem: all UXR research cited took place after this product was launched Even now, 50% of DM requests to teens are from non-teens 60% of teens lie about self-identified age 1) Throughout this analysis, "teens" are IG's closest estimate to actual teens, defined as coalesce(predicted teens, stated teens). It has 80% recall and 95% precision in the US (link) 2) 60% figure from core dims figures, which show 40% recall for stated age, see (link) Case 4:22-md-03047-YGR Document 2885-17 Filed 03/26/26 Page 18 of 29 DM requests to teens from other teens are just as problematic. teen recipient UNWANTED DM REQUEST teen sender Case 4:22-md-03047-YGR Document 2885-17 Filed 03/26/26 Page 19 of 29 Nearly 1½ of Unwanted DM Requests to Teens are from Other Teens • 70% of DM requests to teens are unwanted • 54% of those requests are sent by non- teens • 46% of those requests are sent by other teens % of Unwanted DM Requests to Teens: Sender Age Group 60% Teens non-Teens 54% Nearly 12 of senders are other teens 46% 40% teen recipient UNWANTED DM REQUEST teen sender 20% 0% Unwanted DM Request to Teen from an Unconnected Teen Sender TODO: Look for supporting analysis from bullying work to put in speaker notes Even if we effectively block all DM requests to teens from non-teens, we still allow teens to receive the 46% of unwanted message requests that are from other teens Case 4:22-md-03047-YGR Document 2885-17 Filed 03/26/26 * INSIGHT * Mutual Follower Page 20 of 29 Unwanted DM requests to teens are nearly all from people with no mutual followers teen recipient UNWANTED DM REQUEST sender Case 4:22-md-03047-YGR Document 2885-17 Filed 03/26/26 < Message requests Edit Open a chat to get more info about who's messaging you. They won't know you've seen it until you accept. Page 21 of 29 All requests Penelope Plumface Not unwanted, 4 mutual followers Remember me from high schoo....now iambetween16and17 Unwanted, O mutual followers Could you help me log in please... 2m sandrita12378 Hi-1w Unwanted, O mutual followers Hidden Requests 0 > Delete all Following definitions from UXR, for IG someone is "unconnected" to you if you don't follow them on IG. In being "connected", we also include edge cases of interacting with them on Messenger or being friends with them on Facebook. See slide on more background on the definition of an unwanted message https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1E3zAmtCsfel3MXYDbspti3ECeh5PT- QmCE04dhajJ0s/edit#slide=id.g1131d1bf08f_0_126 Case 4:22-md-03047-YGR Document 2885-17 Filed 03/26/26 Page 22 of 29 95% of Unwanted DM Requests to Teens are From People with 0 Mutual Followers • Out of all unwanted DM requests to teen dau, 95% are from people with no mutual followers • Only 5% of unwanted requests to teens have at least 1 mutual follower % Unwanted DM Requests to Teens from Senders with 0 Mutual Followers, Vs 1+ Mutual Followers % Senders of Unwanted DM Requests 100% 75% 50% 25% 95% 5% 0% 0 Mutual Followers 1+ Mutual Followers Case 4:22-md-03047-YGR Document 2885-17 Filed 03/26/26 Page 23 of 29 Opportunity: By Default, Block DM Requests from No-Mutual-Follower Senders to Teens 70% of all DM requests to teens are unwanted VS 3% of all DM requests to teens are unwanted if there is at least 1 mutual follower between sender and teen 70% (% of all requests that are unwanted) * 95% (% of unwanted from 0 mutual followers) = 67% (% of all requests that are unwanted, with exactly 0 mutual followers). Eliminating the 67% from 70% gives 3%. Case 4:22-md-03047-YGR Document 2885-17 Filed 03/26/26 Blocking Could Prevent Some Wanted DM Requests Page 24 of 29 • While over 3 of DM requests to teens are unwanted and are from people with 0 mutual followers, 1½ of DM requests to teens: • Ο Have no signals that they are unwanted From people with 0 mutual followers Ο Until we understand more about which DM requests are wanted, we may want to adopt a more flexible approach than fully blocking, like applying defaults so teens can opt out Blocking DM requests from 0-mutual- follower-senders would have a: capture rate of 96% and precision of at least* 71% on unwanted DM requests to teens *71% precision assumes that "not unwanted" message are all valuable, so likely an underestimate of precision of blocking. Case 4:22-md-03047-YGR Document 2885-17 Filed 03/26/26 Page 25 of 29 Proposal 1. Strong: Block Block all DM requests to teens from senders with no mutual followers. Teens can't opt out. Given the vulnerability of teens, we recommend a medium prescriptive approach over a mild one. Existing solutions focused on severe violations will remain in place. 2. Medium: Default By default, teens will not get DM requests from people with no mutual followers. Teens who still want to get DM requests from these people can opt-in via a follower-based control. 3. Mild: Nudge The teen default experience will be as before. Create a follower- based control for who can DM request you, and nudge teens towards that control when we think they are receiving unwanted DM requests. Case 4:22-md-03047-YGR Document 2885-17 Filed 03/26/26 Page 26 of 29 Dramatic Difference in Share of Unwanted DM Requests from 1+-Mutual-Follower Senders • Out of all DM requests to teens from senders with at least 1 mutual follower, less than 6% are unwanted • By contrast, over 94% of message requests from senders with 0 mutual followers are unwanted % Unwanted DM Requests to Teens from Senders Vs # Mutual Followers # Mutual Followers 0 1 1.9% 2 0.8% 3 0.5% 4 0.3% 5 0.2% 6 0.2% 7 0.2% 0.0% 25.0% 50.0% 75.0% % Requests are Unwanted 94.2% https://fburl.com/daiquery/n5d5urpx Case 4:22-md-03047-YGR Document 2885-17 Filed 03/26/26 Page 27 of 29 Unwanted DMs are Critical Problem Leading to User Churn, According to UXR and Legal/Policy • Unwanted DMs from unconnected people are top privacy people problems, according to the H2 2021 survey on the Privacy and Severity of People Problems (link) In a survey with churned users in U.S., Japan, Brazil and India (link) Ο Ο 17% of respondents churned because of negative experiences on IG Of those 17%, 11% it was due to unwanted contact The IG legal/policy teams have identified unwanted messages from unconnected people as high value people problems to address (link) Receiving >= 1 message with a negative action (or a non-action) following 7d Case 4:22-md-03047-YGR Document 2885-17 Filed 03/26/26 Page 28 of 29 From UXR, "Teen Barriers to Joining Instagram" (Vitousek, 2022: ) Privacy concerns and unwanted interactions are common reasons US guardian's are not OK with their teens using IG % Selected 100 Why do you think your parents are not ok with you using IG? Please check all that apply. 75 50 25 13-15 16-17 Unwanted message requests to teens Source 0 Other Worried too much emphasis on getting likes & follows Worried others' content would make me feel negative about my life Worried people might be mean to me Don't want me to spend too much time on social media Worried I might share something I shouldn't Concerned my info/activity not as private Worried people I don't know might reach out to me Worried I might see inappropriate content US 5% confidence intervals. N = 1,383 Case 4:22-md-03047-YGR Document 2885-17 Filed 03/26/26 Page 29 of 29 Public Teen DAU Receive the Highest Volume of DM Requests • Public teens are 50% more likely to receive a DM request than Public non-teens: 5.1% of Public teen DAU receive a DM from an unconnected user each day, vs 3.5% of Public non-Teens Private teens are 70% more likely to receive an unconnected DM than Private non- teens: 2.7% of Private teen DAU receive a DM from an unconnected user each day, vs 1.6% of private non-teens % DAU Receiving DMs from Unconnected People Teens and Non-teens, Private and Public All DAU with Unconnected DMs: 2.7% 6.0% 5.1% 4.0% 2.0% 3.5% 2.7% 1.6% 0.0% Public Teens Public non-Teens Private Teens Private non-Teens