'You just cannot trust Zuckerberg with kids': Ex-Meta director testifies in landmark trial, claims his own daughter faced abuse
&imwidth=600&imheight=450&format=webp&quality=medium "'You just cannot trust Zuckerberg with kids': Ex-Meta director testifies in landmark trial, claims his own daughter faced abuse")
File photo of Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg. Photograph: (Reuters)
US states, including California, Colorado, Kentucky and New Jersey, accused Meta of formulating the platforms to grab the attention of young users, fueling anxiety, depression and even suicide, as well as misleading consumers about their safety
A former engineering director at Meta Platforms (META.O) claimed on Wednesday (August 19) that CEO Mark Zuckerberg encouraged a culture that treated child safety as secondary to growth and engagement on Facebook and Instagram. The allegation has been made by Arturo Bejar, a vocal critic of Meta's safety record during his second day of testimony in a landmark trial over claims that could reshape Facebook and Instagram, some of the most popular apps on the planet.
US states, including California, Colorado, Kentucky and New Jersey, accused Meta of formulating the platforms to grab the attention of young users, fueling anxiety, depression and even suicide, as well as misleading consumers about their safety. Those states also accused the firm of violating federal law by improperly collecting and using personal data of children under 13.
Experts indicated this trial as the most significant legal test yet to examine how social media impacts young users. Proceedings began on Tuesday in the Oakland, California, federal court with the case expected to last across six weeks. Jurors will deliver a non-binding advisory verdict, after which U.S. District Judge Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers will determine whether Meta bears liability and, if so, decide on any penalties and required changes to Facebook and Instagram.
Zuckerberg's role in company decision-making
The states' opening witness, Bejar, testified that Mark Zuckerberg was deeply involved in company decision-making, describing a top-down culture at the Menlo Park-based firm where product changes happened only with his direct approval. "If Mark makes something a priority, mountains move in months," Bejar said.
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He also pushed back against remarks Zuckerberg made in October 2021, made in response to claims from whistleblower Frances Haugen that Meta was aware its platforms posed risks to children, and knew how to fix them, yet chose profit over safety.
Zuckerberg had maintained at the time that Meta regularly relied on research to enhance its products. Bejar countered this by revealing he had personally emailed Zuckerberg to raise safety concerns. "It's so false, every part of it," Bejar said. "You just cannot trust Mark Zuckerberg with kids."
Bejar's tenure at Meta ran from 2009 to 2015, and he later returned as an independent contractor from 2019 to 2021, during which he studied the well-being of teenage Instagram users. In 2023, he testified before a U.S. Senate committee that Meta knew about harassment and other harms teen-facing teenagers on its platforms but failed to take action.
Under cross-examination from the company's lawyer Brian Stekloff, Bejar claimed that he was unaware of the harm his teenage daughter would experience when he helped her set up an Instagram account. Bejar added that his daughter wanted a space where women could discuss cars; however, she faced misogynistic comments, including about her breasts. She was just 16 in 2021 by the time her father emailed Zuckerberg highlighting safety.
