Another whistleblower has emerged with regards to safety concerns on Meta’s platforms. On the same day that Frances Haugen testified before Congress in 2021, Arturo Béjar, a former director of engineering for Protect and Care at Facebook, sent an email to CEO Mark Zuckerberg and other executives regarding the potential risks that young people may face while using the company’s products.
Two years later, Béjar was the sole witness in a Senate Judiciary subcommittee hearing titled “Social Media and the Teen Mental Health Crisis.” In his testimony, Béjar claimed that he was subpoenaed earlier this year to testify regarding emails he sent to senior Meta executives, and that he realized that nothing had changed at the company since he sent those emails.
As an engineering director at Meta from 2009 to 2015, Béjar was responsible for the safety of Facebook users, heading a team that worked on tools for protecting teens from bullying, preventing suicide, and ensuring child safety. He testified that when his daughter and her friends were 14, they endured unwanted sexual advances, misogyny, and harassment on Instagram. According to Béjar, Meta’s systems often dismissed their reports or responded with messages stating that the harassment they faced did not violate company rules.
In 2019, Béjar returned to Meta to work with the Instagram well-being team, only to discover that the tools he and his colleagues had developed during his previous tenure at Facebook were no longer available. He claimed that internal research teams at Instagram gathered data indicating that younger teens experienced a high level of distress and abuse. However, according to Béjar, Meta’s senior management publicly reported data that significantly understated the frequency of harm experienced by users.
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In a 2021 email to Zuckerberg and other executives, Béjar cited his then-16-year-old daughter’s experience on Instagram, where a commenter made a misogynistic remark that, while not violating policy, deeply affected her. He expressed his concern as such comments were allowed to spread when users were blocked or deleted. Béjar also cited research indicating that 13 percent of users aged 13 to 15 reported receiving unwanted sexual advances on Instagram within the previous seven days.
Despite his repeated efforts to raise these concerns, Zuckerberg did not respond to his email, which Béjar found unusual. He has stressed the need for Meta to change its approach to moderating its platforms, requiring the company to address harassment and other forms of harm that may not necessarily violate existing rules.
During his testimony, Béjar presented several suggestions, such as enabling teens to flag unwelcome sexual advances, implementing safety tools, and gathering feedback from users who have experienced harm. He believed that adopting such measures would create a safer environment without significantly impacting the revenues of Meta or any other company.
Following his testimony, a Meta spokesperson pointed out the company’s ongoing efforts to support teens and their families in having safe and positive online experiences. However, Béjar’s testimony is likely to spur Congress to pass legislation related to the online safety of young users. He reiterated the need for lawmakers to act, and his testimony comes at a time when Congress is making efforts to address online safety issues for kids.
In response to public scrutiny over its impact on teens, Meta has faced lawsuits filed by state attorneys general, accusing the company of deploying harmful and psychologically manipulative product features to induce compulsive and extended platform use among young users. Béjar provided documents to the attorneys general, and their lawsuit, combined with his testimony, is expected to compel more concrete action from Congress.
Béjar’s testimony has also brought attention to the need for legislative action. Senators have expressed hope that his testimony, combined with the lawsuit brought by state attorneys general and the subcommittee’s interest, will help move the Kids Online Safety Act across the finish line, along with other key legislation to curtail the unchecked influence of Big Tech.
As Meta refocuses its efforts on attracting younger users into its ecosystem, lawmakers now have a prime opportunity to enact laws that can help create a safer online environment for teens. The significance of Béjar’s testimony cannot be overstated, and it is a powerful reminder of the urgency for Congress to act and ensure the online safety of young users.
