According to internal Meta documents reviewed by Reuters, the company's own researchers found that teens who report negative feelings about their bodies are shown significantly more content related to eating disorders on Instagram. The study, conducted over the 2023-2024 academic year, revealed that for these vulnerable users, "eating disorder adjacent content" constituted 10.5% of what they saw, compared to just 3.3% for other teens. The findings show that teens with existing body dissatisfaction see about three times more body-focused and potentially harmful material. This includes content with a prominent display of chests or thighs and explicit judgments about body types. While the material does not violate Instagram's official policies, the research acknowledges that parents and experts have flagged it as potentially harmful, confirming long-held external concerns about the platform's impact on youth mental health.