Zuckerberg lied about concern for child safety, Meta whistleblower testifies at landmark trial
Published by theguardian.com
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Arturo Béjar, a former Meta safety engineer, told the jury that the company was aware of the harm its products caused children, which included its recommendations pushing content from sexual predators and violent and graphic images.
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He said he repeatedly raised the issue to various Facebook and Instagram executives but that they did little to resolve it.
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Béjar briefed Meta’s CEO Mark Zuckerberg on product issues at least 100 times.
He estimated that he spoke to the CEO at least 100 times.
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One email Béjar sent to Zuckerberg in 2021 showed the engineer warning of constant reports of harmful content and damage to teenage wellbeing on Facebook and Instagram.
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"I felt that he created a false and misleading impression of Facebook’s commitment to young people," Béjar testified.
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Zuckerberg did not respond to Béjar’s emails.
"No," Béjar replied. "I didn’t hear back from him."
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The case was brought against Meta by 29 US state attorneys general, who allege the social media company deliberately designed addictive products that lured in young people and led to them being harmed.
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The legal officials also claim the trillion-dollar company regularly collects data on children under the age of 13 without parental permission in violation of federal and state laws.
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Meta didn’t do its share of responsibility for kids' health and wellbeing.
"Meta didn’t do its share,"
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The trial is taking place in Oakland, California and is expected to last at least six weeks.
The trial, which is taking place in Oakland, California, is expected to last at least six weeks.
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Meta denies all allegations in the case.
Meta denies all allegations in the case.
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He added the company did not allow children under the age of 13 to register for accounts on its social networks and that it had disabled more than 1m accounts of those young users.
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If the company is found liable, damages could be as high as $200bn – an amount equivalent to the company’s 2025 annual revenue.
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The lawmakers are also asking that Meta be forced to change the design of its products to make them safer for children, which could have lasting effects on the company’s business model.
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Features like infinite scroll keep users glued to social networks and increase ad revenue.
He said features like infinite scroll, which have been described as keeping users glued to social networks, had been a boon for Meta.
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51% of users said they had bad or harmful experiences within the previous seven days.
He found that 51% of users said “yes” to having had bad or harmful experiences within the previous seven days.
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Content was taken down only 0.02% of the time for those users.
Of those users, the content was taken down only 0.02% of the time, according to his testimony.
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Béjar sent the survey findings to Meta’s top executives, including Mark Zuckerberg and Adam Mosseri.
Béjar said he sent those findings to Meta’s top executives, including Zuckerberg and Mosseri.
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The engineer had a good working relationship with both the company and its leadership.
He highlighted the engineer’s good working relationship with both the company and its leadership.
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