On the same day whistleblower before Congress about the harms of Facebook and Instagram to children in the fall of 2021, Arturo Bejar, then a contractor at the social media giant, sent an alarming email to Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg about the same topic.
In the note, as first reported by , Bejar, who worked as an engineering director at Facebook from 2009 to 2015, outlined a 鈥渃ritical gap鈥� between how the company approached harm and how the people who use its products 鈥� most notably young people 鈥� experience it.
鈥淭wo weeks ago my daughter, 16, and an experimenting creator on Instagram, made a post about cars, and someone commented 鈥楪et back to the kitchen.鈥� It was deeply upsetting to her,鈥� he wrote. 鈥淎t the same time the comment is far from being policy violating, and our tools of blocking or deleting mean that this person will go to other profiles and continue to spread misogyny. I don鈥檛 think policy/reporting or having more content review are the solutions.鈥�
Bejar believes that Meta needs to change how it polices its platforms, with a focus on addressing harassment, unwanted sexual advances and other bad experiences even if these problems don鈥檛 clearly violate existing policies. For instance, sending vulgar sexual messages to children doesn鈥檛 necessarily break Instagram鈥檚 rules, but Bejar said teens should have a way to tell the platform they don鈥檛 want to receive these types of messages.
Two years later, Bejar is testifying before on Tuesday about social media and the teen mental health crisis, hoping to shed light on how Meta executives, including Zuckerberg, knew about the harms Instagram was causing but chose not to make meaningful changes to address them.
鈥淚 can safely say that Meta鈥檚 executives knew the harm that teenagers were experiencing, that there were things that they could do that are very doable and that they chose not to do them,鈥� Bejar told The Associated Press. This, he said, makes it clear that 鈥渨e can鈥檛 trust them with our children.鈥�
Bejar points to user perception surveys that show, for instance, that 13% of Instagram users 鈥� ages 13-15 鈥� reported having received unwanted sexual advances on the platform within the previous seven days.
In his prepared remarks, Bejar is expected to say he doesn鈥檛 believe the reforms he鈥檚 suggesting would significantly affect revenue or profits for Meta and its peers. They are not intended to punish the companies, he said, but to help teenagers.
鈥淵ou heard the company talk about it 鈥榦h this is really complicated,鈥欌�� Bejar told the AP. 鈥淣o, it isn鈥檛. Just give the teen a chance to say 鈥榯his content is not for me鈥� and then use that information to train all of the other systems and get feedback that makes it better.鈥�
The testimony comes amid a bipartisan push in Congress to adopt regulations aimed at protecting children online.
Meta, in a statement, said 鈥淓very day countless people inside and outside of Meta are working on how to help keep young people safe online. 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 and . Working with parents and experts, we have also introduced over to support teens and their families in having safe, positive experiences online. All of this work continues.鈥�
Regarding unwanted material users see that does not violate Instagram鈥檚 rules, Meta points to its 2021 鈥� 鈥� that say 鈥減roblematic or low quality鈥� content automatically receives reduced distribution on users鈥� feeds. This includes clickbait, misinformation that鈥檚 been fact-checked and 鈥渂orderline鈥� posts, such as a 鈥漰hoto of a person posing in a sexually suggestive manner, speech that includes profanity, borderline hate speech, or gory images.鈥�
In 2022, Meta also introduced 鈥渒indness reminders鈥� that tell users to be respectful in their direct messages 鈥� but it only applies to users who are sending message requests to a creator, not a regular user.
Bejar鈥檚 testimony comes just two weeks after for harming young people and contributing to the youth mental health crisis. The lawsuits, filed in state and federal courts, claim that Meta knowingly and deliberately designs features on Instagram and Facebook that addict children to its platforms.
Bejar said it is 鈥渁bsolutely essential鈥� that Congress passes bipartisan legislation 鈥渢o help ensure that there is transparency about these harms and that teens can get help鈥� with the support of the right experts.
鈥淭he most effective way to regulate social media companies is to require them to develop metrics that will allow both the company and outsiders to evaluate and track instances of harm, as experienced by users. This plays to the strengths of what these companies can do, because data for them is everything,鈥� he wrote in his prepared .
Barbara Ortutay, The Associated Press
