Protect Users From Misleading Mental Health and Relationship Advice on Instagram

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The Issue

We are asking Instagram and Meta to take stronger action against misleading and potentially harmful mental health and relationship content that is widely promoted through Reels and recommendations. Social media can be a valuable place to learn about mental health and relationships. Many qualified psychologists, therapists, and other professionals use Instagram responsibly and provide helpful educational content. The problem is not legitimate mental health education. The problem is oversimplified and sensationalized content that presents complex psychological or relationship issues as absolute facts. Videos such as "5 signs your partner is a narcissist", "7 reasons your marriage is toxic", or "If your partner does this, leave immediately" can reduce complicated personal situations to a few seconds of generalized advice. When this content is repeatedly recommended by algorithms, users may begin treating short social media videos as professional psychological guidance. We are asking Instagram and Meta to: 1. Improve how potentially misleading mental health and relationship content is identified and recommended. 2. Reduce algorithmic boosting of oversimplified or sensational mental health claims. 3. Expand access to authoritative information and resources, and 4. offer more transparency around how this type of content is promoted. This is not about censorship. It is about protecting users from content that looks like professional advice but isn't. We ask Meta to treat this as a user safety issue.

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