Mental Health / Growth over Child Safety! Ex-Meta Engineer Exposes Instagram’s Neglect

New Delhi, Aug 20: In a dramatic turn at a US federal courtroom, Arturo Bejar, a former engineering director at Meta, accused Instagram of putting growth ahead of child safety.

Bejar, who has previously testified before Congress on online harms, told the court that the company adopted a “don’t ask, don’t tell” approach when it came to children under 13.

According to Bejar, Meta’s internal culture rewarded employees based on engagement metrics such as user numbers and time spent on the platform.

Also read: Centre to Hold Further Discussions With Meta on Recommendation Algorithms, Content Moderation

“In that context, safety was an afterthought,” he said. His research, he added, revealed “tens of thousands” of under‑13 users on Instagram, something he described as “common knowledge” within the company.

The testimony comes in a trial where Meta faces lawsuits from California, Colorado, Kentucky, and New Jersey, part of a coalition of 29 states that sued the tech giant in 2023.

The states allege Meta knowingly designed addictive features that contributed to a youth mental health crisis, while also collecting data from children under 13 without parental consent — a violation of federal law.

Bejar pointed out that while Meta had sophisticated systems to detect fake accounts, it lacked “goals or metrics” to identify and block underage users. He also criticized Instagram’s safety features, particularly the Take a Break tool introduced in 2021.

“A safety tool has to be on by default,” he argued, noting that the feature was designed to fail because users had to enable it themselves and could easily dismiss prompts. “If Meta was serious about wanting users to take a break, the feature could not be so easily swiped away with a finger tap.”

Meta has rejected the allegations, insisting that evidence presented during the trial will demonstrate its commitment to safety. Company lawyer Paul Schmidt told the court, “You will hear over the course of this case a lot of important issues, issues like teen mental health, issues like social media, issues like how teens use social media. Those are important issues, and they’re issues where Meta believes that it has a responsibility.”

He added that Meta aims to work with teens and parents in partnership to address these concerns.

(IANS)