Former Facebook employee Arturo Bejar told senators Tuesday that his Big Tech bosses knew social media was putting children in harm’s way but did not act to stop dangers, including sexual advances and bullying.
Mr. Bejar testified to the Senate Judiciary Committee that he raised concerns about children’s experiences on Meta’s platforms and was ignored. Some two years after consulting the social media giant, Mr. Bejar said he is confident Meta understands the problem and has continuously decided not to tackle the issue.
“They knew, there are things they could do about it, they chose not to do them and we cannot trust them with our children and it’s time for Congress to act,” Mr. Bejar said. “The evidence, I believe, is overwhelming.”
Mr. Bejar said he worked at Facebook from 2009 to 2015 as a senior leader tasked with protecting people, and he returned as a consultant to Instagram in 2019.
Along the way, he learned of the harm to children including his own — Mr. Bejar said his daughter experienced unwanted sexual advances on Instagram as a child. After raising concerns, Mr. Bejar said Meta was mum.
The former Facebook employee is not the first alumnus of Meta and its social media competitors to raise alarms about dangers from Big Tech companies. Sen. Richard Blumenthal said what makes Mr. Bejar an exceptional whistleblower was his bringing documents to the committee detailing his warning, rather than only supplying memories of workplace conduct.
The Connecticut Democrat said Mr. Bejar’s data showed more than one-fourth of teens aged 13 to 15 reported receiving sexual advances on Instagram, and nearly one-third of teens saw discrimination based on sexual orientation, gender, race and religion.
Mr. Blumenthal said Meta has rarely reacted to remedy such problems, and hid evidence from Congress.
“They hid from this committee and all of Congress evidence of the harms that they knew was credible and they ignored and disregarded recommendations for making the site safer and they even rolled back some of the existing protections,” Mr. Blumenthal said at the hearing.
Asked about Mr. Bejar’s testimony, Meta spokesman Andy Stone said his company’s work to protect children is ongoing and Meta has provided more than 30 tools for families and teenagers to have safe experiences online.
“Every day countless people inside and outside of Meta are working on how to help keep young people safe online,” Mr. Stone said in a statement. “The issues raised here regarding user perception surveys highlight one part of this effort, and surveys like these have led us to create features like anonymous notifications of potentially hurtful content and comment warnings.”
Mr. Blumenthal said Mr. Bejar’s testimony provided additional justification for congressional action. Alongside Sen. Marsha Blackburn, Tennessee Republican, Mr. Blumenthal has led a push to pass the Kids Online Safety Act that aims to require social media platforms to prevent and limit harm to teens.
The bill stalled in Congress last year, and the senators reintroduced it this year.
Sen. Josh Hawley, Missouri Republican, blamed the lack of legislative action addressing the problems children face on Big Tech’s lobbyists persuading his colleagues not to pass legislation.
“We’ll get all kinds of speeches in committee, we’ll get speeches on the floor about how we have to act and then this body will do nothing,” Mr. Hawley said at the hearing. “Why? Money, that’s why. Gobs of it.”
Sen. Lindsey Graham, South Carolina Republican, pledged to return any cash he took from Facebook, Instagram, and other tech companies. He called on other lawmakers to join him as they head into the 2024 election cycle.
Mr. Graham won reelection in 2020 and will not face voters again for more than three years if he chooses to run for reelection.
Outside of Congress, states are taking Meta to federal court. Thirty-three states sued Meta in October over allegations Meta looked to boost profits by exposing children to harmful social media features and practices.
Schools are also suing. Hundreds of school districts across the country have sued Big Tech companies over their social media platforms’ alleged harms to youth mental health, including on Facebook, Snapchat, and TikTok. Legal experts previously told The Washington Times this litigation is unlikely to prevail.
Mr. Bejar’s own recommendation is for new regulation. He said in written testimony that regulators and governments should require social media platforms to make changes to allow people to flag unwanted content and curate the posts they see on the platforms.
He said he opposes online censorship but thinks there should be no right to harass people online.
• Ryan Lovelace can be reached at rlovelace@washingtontimes.com.
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