By Kenrick Cai, Diana Novak Jones and Jonathan Stempel
OAKLAND, California, Aug 19 (Reuters) – A former engineering director at Meta Platforms testified on Wednesday that CEO Mark Zuckerberg fostered a culture that treated child safety as secondary to growth and engagement on Facebook and Instagram.
Arturo Bejar, a vocal Meta critic, made the allegation during his second day of testimony in a landmark trial over claims brought by a coalition of states that could reshape Facebook and Instagram, some of the most popular apps on the planet.
California, Colorado, Kentucky and New Jersey accuse Meta of designing the platforms to hook young users, fueling anxiety, depression and even suicide, and misleading consumers about their safety.
Those states and 25 others also accuse Meta of violating federal law by improperly collecting and using personal data of children under 13 while they used its platforms. The trial began on Tuesday and is expected to last six weeks. Zuckerberg is expected to testify.
Bejar, the states’ first witness, said Zuckerberg was closely involved in much decision-making, and the company’s top-down culture ensured that product design changes would occur only if he ordered them.
“If Mark makes something a priority, mountains move in months,” Bejar said.
Bejar also disputed an October 2021 response Zuckerberg made to allegations by whistleblower Frances Haugen that Meta knew its products were unsafe for children and knew how to make them safe, but did nothing in order to pursue higher profits. Zuckerberg said at the time that Meta constantly used research to improve its products.
“It’s so false, every part of it,” Bejar said. “You just cannot trust Mark Zuckerberg with kids.”
MISOGYNISTIC COMMENTS TOWARD DAUGHTER
Bejar worked at Meta from 2009 to 2015, and helped examine the well-being of teenage Instagram users while employed as an independent contractor from 2019 to 2021. He said he was not working directly with Zuckerberg at the time, and as an outside contractor lacked access to some resources.
Bejar has been outspoken in criticizing Meta’s safety record for children, and testified before a U.S. Senate committee in 2023 that Meta was aware of harassment and other harms facing teenagers on its platforms but failed to address them.
Under cross-examination from Meta’s lawyer Brian Stekloff, Bejar acknowledged he was unaware of the risks his daughter would face in 2021 when he helped her set up an Instagram account she still has.
Bejar said his daughter was 16 at the time, and wanted a space where women could discuss cars, but came to experience misogynistic comments, including about her breasts.
“I kept an eye on how distressing it was for her,” Bejar said. “She got a good following, at the price of harm.”
PROFIT OVER SAFETY
Earlier, Bejar told a lawyer for the states that Meta prioritized user engagement — and profit — over safety.
He said a tool Meta uses that encourages users to take a break, a key feature Meta has cited in its defense, was “designed to fail” because it is not the default setting and reminders are easy to ignore.
Bejar also said Meta had technology to flag and require verification from users, potentially in the millions, suspected to be under age 13, but turned a blind eye through a “don’t ask, don’t tell” policy because it was financially profitable over the longer term.
“Where the youngest kids are is where the users are going to be in the future,” he said.
Experts have said the trial is the biggest legal test yet of social media’s effects on young users.
Meta faces thousands of similar lawsuits over alleged harm to children. Bejar has been a key witness against the company in three of the cases that have gone to trial so far. One of those cases, brought by New Mexico, resulted in $942 million in damages and penalties and an order requiring Meta to change its platforms in the state.
(Reporting by Diana Novak Jones in Chicago, Kenrick Cai in Oakland, California, and Jonathan Stempel in New York; Editing by Alexia Garamfalvi and Nia Williams)
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