Arturo Béjar, a former engineering director at Meta (formerly known as Facebook), testified before Congress about the detrimental effects of Instagram on teens, specifically his own daughter’s experiences with the platform. Béjar, renowned for his work combating online harassment, expressed his concerns about the inadequate protection provided to his child against harassment and unwanted advances on Instagram.
Béjar, who had previously worked at Facebook from 2009 to 2015, was hired again as a consultant in 2019. During his absence, his daughter began using Instagram and encountered distressing incidents, including harassment and unwanted advances. Despite reporting these issues to the company, no action was taken.
In a 2021 email to Mark Zuckerberg, Béjar highlighted a “critical gap” between how Meta addressed harm and the real experiences of users, particularly young people. He cited an example involving his 16-year-old daughter receiving derogatory comments on her post. Although such comments did not violate existing policies, they caused significant distress. Béjar emphasized the need for a mechanism that allowed teens to indicate their preference not to receive such messages.
During his congressional testimony, Béjar underlined the necessity for Meta to adopt new approaches to policing its platforms, focusing on addressing harassment, unwanted advances, and negative experiences, even when they do not explicitly breach current policies. He asserted that Meta’s executives were aware of the harm teenagers were facing but chose not to implement feasible solutions, casting doubt on their trustworthiness with children’s safety.
This testimony coincides with a bipartisan effort in Congress to establish regulations aimed at safeguarding children on social media platforms. Meta has been facing lawsuits from numerous US states, accusing the company of contributing to the youth mental health crisis by designing features that lead to addiction in children.
Béjar advocated for the adoption of bipartisan legislation to ensure transparency regarding online harms and provide support for affected teenagers. He stressed the importance of developing metrics for tracking instances of harm, enabling both the company and external parties to assess and address these issues effectively.
As Congress and regulators continue to scrutinize the role of social media platforms in shaping the experiences of young users, the pressure on Meta to address the mental health and well-being of adolescents intensifies.
By AP
