Meta didn't do enough to protect teens, former employee tells US Senate

A former employee of tech giant Meta Platforms Inc on Tuesday (November 7)testified before a United States Senate subcommittee and alleged that although the parent company of Instagram and Facebook knew about harassment of teenage users on the platforms, it did not do enough to address the issue.

ArturoBejar, the former Meta employee, worked as director of engineering for Facebook's Protect and Care team (2009-2015) before working on well-being for Instagram (2019-2021). His testimony took place at a hearing about social media and its impact on teen mental health.

"It's time that the public and parents understand the true level of harm posed by these 'products' and it's time that young users have the tools to report and suppress online abuse," he said in written remarks prior to the hearing, as reported by Reuters.

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There is a bipartisan sentiment and a push in US Congress for legislation that would mandate social media platforms to give parents tools to protect children online.

Bejar said during his testimony that his work at Meta was aimed at influencing the design of Facebook and Instagram so that it would nudge users towards more positive behaviour. It was also focused towards giving young people tools to help them manage unpleasant experiences.

During the hearing, Bejar told the senators that he met with senior executives of Meta from time to time. This included CEO Mark Zuckerberg. He said his impression was that they were supportive of the work but subsequently, he came to the conclusion that executives decided "time and time again to not tackle this issue."

Bejar said in 2021, hesent an e-mail to Zuckerberg and other top honchos within Meta, conveying to them that internal data suggested 51 per cent of Instagram userssaid that they had unpleasant experiences on the platform seven days prior. He also conveyed that nearly a quarter of teenage users between the ages of 13 and 15 reported that they had received unwanted sexual advances.

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He also mentioned that during a meeting, Meta's Chief Product Officer Chris Cox cited precise numbers on harm to teens off the top of his head.

"I found it heartbreaking because it meant that they knew and that they were not acting on it," said Bejar, as quoted by Reuters.

Reuters reported that Meta said in a statement it was committed to the protection of young users online.

(With inputs from agencies)