Appearance-based social comparison on Instagram

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Case 4:22-md-03047-YGR Document 2885-48 Filed 03/26/26 Page 1 of 7 AMENDED Exhibit 120 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 2885-48 Filed 03/26/26 Appearance-based social comparison on Instagram Moira Burke Last edited January 14. 9 minute read Page 2 of 7 Save Appearance-based social comparison on Instagram with Justin Cheng and Shruti Bhutada Negative forms of social comparison, particularly appearance-based comparison, can worsen body image problems, eating disorders, anxiety, and loneliness. This is a high-reach, high- intensity problem [1, 2], that appears frequently in academic literature and the media. Teen girls perceive Instagram as the "worst" social media app in terms of body and appearance comparison. In this note, we summarize a large international survey on Instagram measuring the prevalence of appearance-based social comparison on Instagram and more general body image issues, as well as the kinds of people most affected. In upcoming notes, we'll show log data identifying surfaces and content that are linked to high levels of appearance-based comparison. For a similar series on more general social comparison (not just appearance-based), see our previous series on social comparison on Instagram. Takeaways • Appearance-based comparison is common on Instagram. One-third (33%) of people say they compare their appearances to others' often or always. Nearly half (48%) of teen girls do. It causes people to feel bad about themselves: One quarter (26%) report often or always seeing posts that make them feel worse about their bodies or appearances. More than one-third (37%) of teen girls do. • One-quarter of people on IG (23%) feel a lot or extreme pressure to look perfect on Instagram, and one-third of teen girls (34%) do. Appearance-based comparison is worse for teens, women of all ages, and people in globally western countries (US, GB, AU, France). Independent of Instagram, many people feel bad about their appearances (25%, including 32% of teen girls) or weight (40%) more generally (44% of teen girls). Method We surveyed 50,590 people in 10 countries (Australia, Brazil, France, Germany, Great Britain, India, Japan, Korea, Mexico, United States) in December 2020. Respondents answered questions adapted from the literature about their experiences with appearance comparison on Instagram as well as their body image and weight more generally (full survey). Responses are weighted using Graviton to match IG DAP. Instagram's impact on body image Appearance-based comparison is common on Instagram. Roughly ½ of people on Instagram feel like they often or always compare their appearance to others on the platform, and ¼ feel intense pressure to look perfect (orange bars in Figure 1). It's worse for teen girls: Nearly half of teen girls (48%) often or always compare their appearances on IG, and one-third (34%) feel intense pressure to look perfect (not shown). While people's experiences vary widely, with many people feeling no comparison or pressure, there are two reasons to focus on people who feel frequent comparisons and pressure (orange bars below): (1) as we show in the next section, it's worse for teens, particularly girls, and (2) as we show at the end of this note, many people have some form of body dissatisfaction even if it doesn't manifest badly for them on Instagram, and by addressing the problem of Instagram making body image issues worse, we can create a more supportive environment for everyone. How often do you compare your appearance to the appearance of people on Instagram? How much pressure do you feel to look perfect on Instagram? 37% Percent of responses 40% 33% 30% 25% 201 10% 18% 15% 10% 20% 19% 14% 9% 0% Never or Occasionally About half Often almost the time never Always or almost always No pressure Slight pressure Moderate pressure A lot of Extreme pressure pressure Figure 1. Frequency of appearance-based comparison and pressure to look perfect on instagram. Orange bars indicate the highest frequency/most intense categories. Responses are weighted HIGHLY CONFIDENTIAL (COMPETITOR) META3047MDL_RVOL003 HIGHLY CONFIDENTIAL - ATTORNEYS' EYES ONLY META304ZMDL-003-00048700 METATNAG-003-00049317 Case 4:22-md-03047-YGR Document 2885-48 Filed 03/26/26 to reflect IG DAP. How do those appearance comparisons make them feel? Both better and worse about themselves (Figure 2). Roughly 1 in 4 people (26%) say that they often see content that makes them feel worse about themselves (37% of teen girls, not shown), and 1 in 5 (18%) have felt worse in the past 7 days (not shown, and 23% of teen girls, not shown). We don't want to discount the positive, inspirational aspects of Instagram, and as Figure 2 shows, 23% of people on IG often or always see content that makes them feel better about themselves, too. This is consistent with prior research, that Instagram both triggers negative comparisons and inspires people [1, 2, 3]. How often do you see posts on Instagram that make you feel worse about your body or appearance? How often do you see posts on Instagram that make you feel better about your body or appearance? Page 3 of 7 Percent of responses 40% 30% 201 39% 25% 15% 10% 11% 33% 32% 101 14% 12% 9% 0% Never or Occasionally About half Often almost never the time Always or almost always Never or almost never Occasionally About hall Often the time Always or almost always Figure 2. Outcomes of social comparison are a mixed bag. People see content on IG that makes them feel both worse (left) and better (right) about their bodies and appearances. Appearance comparison on IG is worse for women and teens Who experiences the most appearance comparison and its negative outcomes? Women and teens. To answer this question, we created an IG appearance comparison scale by averaging three of the questions above (appearance comparison, pressure to look perfect, and feeling worse about your body, alpha = 0.78). As Figure 3 shows, appearance comparison is worse for women at nearly all ages (23% worse than men on average), and it begins to decline around age 30. (Respondents reported their age on the survey.) People who choose to use custom genders (not shown) also experience higher negative social comparison on IG, 11% higher than men, though the number of responses is low (139), so additional research on appearance comparison among those with non-binary genders is needed. Appearance-based comparison on IG (higher is worse) 1.5 2.0 20 3.0 2.5 + female -male 13-14 15-16 17-18 19-21 22-24 25-30 31-40 41-50 51-60 61 or older Age Figure 3. Appearance-based comparison on Instagram is worse for women at nearly all ages, and is higher for teens and young adults than older adults. Appearance comparison on IG is worse in western countries Appearance-based comparison on IG is greatest in globally western countries, including Great Britain, Australia, France, and the US (Figure 4, also see Footnote 1). In most countries, it's worse among women, though this result is not uniform. In India, comparison is higher among men than women. This is consistent with prior research, that women generally experience more social comparison than men, with exceptions in some countries such as India. In the countries where men experience more comparison, women generally comprise a smaller proportion of the paid workforce, suggesting that men there may experience comparison and stress on more dimensions (professional and social). It's surprising that these results hold for appearance-based comparison specifically (not just comparison of achievements or status), especially since societal expectations for appearance are stricter for women than men in India. HIGHLY CONFIDENTIAL (COMPETITOR) HIGHLY CONFIDENTIAL - ATTORNEYS' EYES ONLY META3047MDL_RVOL003 META304ZMDL-003-00048701 METATNAG-003-00049318 Case 4:22-md-03047-YGR Document 2885-48 Filed 03/26/26 Appearance-based comparison on IG (higher is worse) 2.0 3.0 + 2.5 2 female male Great Britain Australia France United States Brazil Germany Country India Korea Mexico Japan Figure 4. Appearance-based comparison on Instagram is highest in globally western countries. In most countries, it's worse among women, though this result is not uniform. In India, comparison on IG is higher among men. From the academic literature on body image (summary), body dissatisfaction may be higher in East Asia than in the US/UK, in part because of adoption of western beauty standards. As we discuss below (Figure 8), this bears out in our survey data: general body dissatisfaction is much higher in Japan and Korea. So, it's surprising here that Instagram's role is much lower in those two countries -- people there report feeling like they don't compare themselves to others on IG as often as people in the US/UK do. Independent of IG, how do people feel about their bodies and weight? Thus far, we've described people's feelings about appearance-based comparison on Instagram. Independent of our platform, how do people generally feel about their bodies and weight? We asked respondents four questions derived from the academic literature on body image, capturing four dimensions of body image (see Figure 5): Appearance satisfaction Weight satisfaction • Body appreciation • Appearance orientation (how important it is to look good) A substantial proportion of people report body image concerns, independent of their feelings about Instagram. As shown in Figure 5, 1 in 4 (25%) are dissatisfied with their appearance and 40% are dissatisfied with their weight (orange bars). Roughly 1 in 3 (38%) never feel good about their bodies, or only occasionally. The fourth dimension, appearance orientation, is orthogonal to the others, identifying how important it is for that person to look good physically. (A person may be dissatisfied with their appearance, but it doesn't matter much to them.) The majority (53%) say that it's quite or very important to look good physically. Percent of responses How satisfied are you with your appearance? How satisfied are you with your weight? 22% 21% 20% 19% 18% 40% 32% 30% 22% 22% 20% 16% 109 9% 0% Very Somewhat Neither Somewhat Very satisfied satisfied satisfied dissatisfied dissatisfied Very satisfied Somewhat satisfied Neither Somewhat nor Very satisfied dissatisfied dissatisfied nor dissatisfied dissatisfied Percent of responses How often do you feel good about your body? How important is it to you that you always look good physically? 40% 27% 27% 26% 30% 25% 22% 19% 21% 20% 10% 13% 13% 6% 0% Always Often or almost About half Occasionally Never or the time almost Not at all always never Important Slightly important Somewhat important Qulte important Very important Page 4 of 7 Figure 5. Responses to general body image questions (not about Instagram). A large proportion of people report body image concerns (orange bars), including dissatisfaction with appearance or weight, and only occasional body appreciation. A majority of people (53%) feel that it's quite or very important to always look good physically. Responses are weighted to reflect IG DAP. To understand how body image concerns vary by demographics, we created a general body image scale by averaging three of the questions above (appearance satisfaction, weight satisfaction, and body appreciation, alpha = 0.79). The contours of body image concerns are somewhat different from those specific to Instagram (Figure 6 has a different shape than Figure 3). As Figure 6 shows, women still experience greater body image concerns than men at nearly all ages. However, rather than decreasing with age like IG-specific appearance comparison, body image concerns dip in the late teens/ early twenties, and then increase again. While individuals' experiences may vary, on average men META3047MDL_RVOL003 HIGHLY CONFIDENTIAL (COMPETITOR) HIGHLY CONFIDENTIAL - ATTORNEYS' EYES ONLY META304ZMDL-003-00048702 METATNAG-003-00049319 Case 4:22-md-03047-YGR Document 2885-48 Filed 03/26/26 experience increasing body concerns as they age, while women become more comfortable in their bodies around age 50. (As noted, these are averages and individuals may feel differently.) Despite that, women still experience worse body image concerns than men; it's the worst for teen girls and even a woman in her mid-50s still has more body image concerns than a teen boy. General body image concerns (higher is worse) 2.6 3.2 3.0 2.8 2 female male 2.4 13-14 15-16 17-18 19-21 22-24 25-30 31-40 41-50 51-60 61 or older Age Figure 6. Body image concerns (not specific to Instagram) by age and gender. Separating IG's role from general body image concerns We know that teens, women of all ages, and people in western countries experience higher levels of both general body image concerns and problems with appearance comparison on Instagram. In the plots below, we separate these two dimensions (general body image concerns vs. IG- specific appearance comparison). As you can see in Figure 7, for teens and young adults, both dimensions are high. However, around age 30, the role of IG begins to diminish: even though people still have high levels of body image concern, they don't compare themselves to others on IG as much, and don't report as many of the negative outcomes. This reinforces the idea that we should focus our efforts on teens and younger adults. 0.25 0.00 0.25 Body image concerns, Appearance comparison on IG (in standard deviations, higher is worse) 0.50 H -0.75 13-14 15-16 17-18 19-21 22-24 25-30 31-40 王 41-50 51-60 61 or older General body image concerns Appearance comparison on IG Figure 7. General body image concerns vs. IG-specific appearance comparison by age. In many western countries, IG-specific issues track general body image concerns (the two sets of points are roughly parallel in Figure 8). However, in Korea, Japan, and Mexico, concerns over IG- specific comparison are low, while body image issues are high. Why might IG's impact be less negative in those places? Some possible hypotheses needing deeper dives include (1) content shared in those countries might be less appearance- and body-focused and (2) people in these countries interpret appearance- and body-focused content in a way that doesn't hurt their own self-image (see footnote 1). Furthermore, though general body image concerns are relatively lower in India, issues with appearance comparison on IG is substantially higher there, suggesting we need to better understand appearance-based content shared in India better and its impact on viewers. 0.50 0.25 Body image concerns, Appearance comparison on IG standard deviations, higher is worse) 0.00 -0.25 HIGHLY CONFIDENTIAL (COMPETITOR) HIGHLY CONFIDENTIAL - ATTORNEYS' EYES ONLY Great Britain Australia United States France Brazi General body image concerns Appearance comparison on IG Germany META3047MDL_RVOL003 Figure 8. General body image concerns vs. IG-specific appearance comparison by country. India Korea Japan Mexico Page 5 of 7 META304ZMDL-003-00048703 METATNAG-003-00049320 Case 4:22-md-03047-YGR Document 2885-48 Filed 03/26/26 Page 6 of 7 Appearance-based comparison on Instagram is common and can have significant implications for individuals. The findings in this note reinforce previous findings that we should focus our efforts on teens, women of all ages, and people in globally western countries, where levels of appearance-based comparison are highest. In upcoming notes, we'll explore the role of post topics (e.g., fashion posts), advertisements, surfaces, and celebrities in order to inform product controls and changes to better support the well-being of people who use our products. Footnote: 1. Some of the between-country variation may be due to cultural differences in responding to survey scales (e.g,. though appearance-based comparison on IG appears lowest in Japan, that may be due to hesitance to select the most extreme ends of the scales or a resistance to blaming a piece of technology; see this notebook for response distributions per question per country. Tests of measurement invariance are borderline, suggesting that there aren't substantial differences inherent in how people interpret these questions, but these country differences may not be as large as they appear. Cognitive testing social comparison questions would allow us to make broader generalizations between countries. Additional thanks to Shilpa Mody and Wendy Gross. 25 Like Comment 8 Comments 4 Shares Share Shruti Bhutada Kristin, Like Reply 1y Kristin Hendrix cc: Karina, 2 Like Reply Ty 02 This is really interesting. Have you considered asking the respondents specifically about friend vs. celebrity posts? For cultural differences, it is interesting that how people perceive their weight differs by country, e.g. https://bmcpublichealth.biomedcentral.com/.../s12889-018.... I wonder if for east asian countries, where people are more likely than in the west to think of themselves as overweight even if their weight is in a normal range, comparison may have a different effect? (also curious about how the body image dimensions look by country...) MC Public Health Like Reply 1y BMCPUBLICHEALTH.BIOMEDCENTRAL.COM Relationship between body image and weight status in east Asian countries: comparison between South Korea and Taiwan would also be interesting to dive deeper into tie types: full blown celebrities (JLo, Lady Gaga) vs "micro influencers" people you know vs don't know close friends vs weak ties Like Reply 1y Justin Cheng Definitely planning to look into this and related questions. Look forward to some subset of these country/cultural differences (and tie differences) being explored in a future note. Like Reply Ty Thanks for putting this together! Figure 7 compares "general body image concerns vs. IG-specific appearance comparison" could you share the questions used for these ratings? I'm keen to understand the delta here a little more, as this chart seems to point at the impact that IG is having on these concerns. Like Reply 1y A follow up question on the use of standard deviations, do we expect the distribution to be a "bell curve"? my gut would be that most people are unaffected whilst a small population are very affected meaning that the effect of more extreme reactions might be having a stronger role? In other words do we need to refine our targeting not just to younger women but even further to young women who are more likely to have a negative and impactful response? Like Reply Ty Moira Burke the questions for general body image are listed in Figure 5 (e.g., "How satisfied are you with your appearance?"), and the questions for IG-specific appearance comparison are the first three questions in Figure 2 (scale creation is described in the subsequent paragraph). Like Reply 22w Write a reply... Press Enter to post. Write a comment... Press Enter to post. META3047MDL_RVOL003 HIGHLY CONFIDENTIAL (COMPETITOR) HIGHLY CONFIDENTIAL - ATTORNEYS' EYES ONLY META3047MDL-003-00048704 METATNAG-003-00049321 Case 4:22-md-03047-YGR Document 2885-48 Filed 03/26/26 Recommended Reading Appearance comparison: Defining sensitive ("High-NAC") content... Justin Cheng Be Different Preview of Return-To- Office room booking experience... Naomi Gleit HIGHLY CONFIDENTIAL (COMPETITOR) HIGHLY CONFIDENTIAL - ATTORNEYS' EYES ONLY META3047MDL_RVOL003 Page 7 of 7 META3047MDL-003-00048705 METATNAG-003-00049322