Arturo Béjar, a former engineering director at Meta, stated on Wednesday (19th) that the company's CEO, Mark Zuckerberg, fostered a culture where the protection of children and adolescents was secondary to increasing engagement and user numbers on Facebook and Instagram.
Béjar presented this accusation during his second day of testimony in a significant trial that has the potential to set new standards for social media responsibility regarding the impact of its platforms on young people. This lawsuit is brought by a coalition of 29 US states against Meta.
California, Colorado, Kentucky, and New Jersey accuse the company of designing Facebook and Instagram in ways that trap young people on the platforms, which contributes to issues such as anxiety, depression, and even suicide. Furthermore, the 29 states allege that Meta violated federal laws by improperly collecting and using personal data from children under 13.
The trial began on Tuesday (18th) in a federal court located in Oakland, California (USA), and is expected to last approximately six weeks. Mark Zuckerberg is among the witnesses awaited in this case.
During his testimony, Béjar shared a personal experience involving his own daughter, who was 16 when she created an Instagram account in 2021. He reported that the teenager wanted to use the network to find a place where women could discuss automobiles. However, over time, she began receiving misogynistic comments, including insults related to her breasts.
Béjar mentioned monitoring the effect of this situation on his daughter, stating: 'I kept an eye on how distressing it was for her. She gained many followers at the cost of suffering harm.'
During questioning by Meta's lawyer, Brian Stekloff, Béjar admitted he was unaware of the risks his daughter would face by helping her create the account.
More information:
In his testimony, Béjar also maintained that Meta prioritized user engagement—and consequently, profit—over safety. An example he cited was a feature designed to encourage users to take breaks from using the platforms, a feature that is part of the safety measures defended by Meta.
The former executive asserted that this tool was 'designed to fail,' given that it is not activated as a default setting and its warnings can be easily ignored. He added that Meta possessed technology capable of identifying users under 13 and requiring age confirmation, a tool that, according to him, could reach millions of users.
Additionally, Béjar alleged that the company adopted a 'don't ask, don't tell' policy regarding the presence of children under 13 on the platforms because retaining these users would be financially advantageous in the long run. He emphasized: 'Where the youngest children are is where users will be in the future.' Meta, for its part, refutes the claims that it developed Facebook and Instagram with the intent of making the platforms addictive for children.
On the first day of the trial, the company's lawyer, Paul Schmidt, argued that there is no proof of a causal link between social media use and the decline in adolescent well-being. The defense also maintains that Zuckerberg shares the goal of improving the company's services, not making them dangerous.
This lawsuit could result in sanctions and modifications to the operation of Facebook and Instagram. The states are seeking, among other actions, the elimination of features like likes and infinite scrolling, the establishment of time limits for younger users, and the strengthening of restrictions to prevent children under 13 from using the platforms. The case is viewed as one of the biggest legal challenges faced by social media companies regarding the effects of their products on children and adolescents, as Meta deals with thousands of similar lawsuits in the United States.