Meta Knew Teens Harassed Online But Chose Not To Stop It, Says Ex-Employee

Arturo Bejar's testimony comes amid a push in US Congress to pass legislation that would require social media platforms to provide parents with tools to protect children online.

A former Meta employee testified before a US Senate subcommittee on Tuesday, alleging that the Facebook and Instagram parent company was aware of harassment and other harms facing teens on its platforms but failed to address them. The employee, Arturo Bejar, worked on well-being for Instagram from 2019 to 2021 and earlier was a director of engineering for Facebook's Protect and Care team from 2009 to 2015, he said.

Bejar testified before the Senate Judiciary Subcommittee on Privacy, Technology and the Law at a hearing about social media and its impact on teen mental health.

"It's time that the public and parents understand the true level of harm posed by these 'products' and it's time that young users have the tools to report and suppress online abuse," he said in written remarks made available before the hearing.