Meta staff ordered ‘attorney-client privilege’ hats to hide teen safety files

Meta staff ordered baseball hats printed with "a/c priv" to keep sensitive teen safety research out of court.

Lawyers suing Meta uncovered an unsealed document showing that the team behind Instagram’s Teen Accounts ordered custom caps stamped with "a/c priv" (attorney-client privilege). According to a report by The Verge, plaintiffs argue the merch reveals a culture of hiding internal research on teen mental health harms behind fake legal secrecy. US District Judge Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers already called some of Meta's privilege claims "entirely inappropriate," following Meta's previous release of 65,000 improperly withheld documents.

Why it matters: You cannot turn a routine business decision into a legal secret just by tagging a lawyer or printing it on a hat. Plaintiffs argue Meta routinely abused attorney-client privilege to shield embarrassing safety data from public view.

Know this: Meta wants until the end of the year to re-review its redacted files, while opposing lawyers want a neutral party appointed to do the job on Meta’s tab.

Slapping legal text on a baseball cap does not make your research invisible to a judge.