During the second day of a six‑week federal trial in Oakland, California, former Meta engineering director Arturo Béjar told jurors that Instagram operated with a “don’t ask, don’t tell” attitude toward children under the age of 13. Béjar, who worked at Facebook from 2009‑2015 and returned as a contractor from 2019‑2021, said the platform prioritized user engagement metrics and advertising revenue over the mental‑health safety of minors.
Key testimony points
Béjar explained that performance reviews and compensation for product teams focused on how often users opened the app and how long they stayed, leaving safety considerations as an afterthought. He described features such as video autoplay and popularity counters (likes, views, follower counts) as “inherently unsafe for teenagers” because they amplify social comparison.
The former engineer also claimed that, despite Meta’s public statements about detecting under‑13 accounts, he personally identified “tens of thousands” of children on Instagram. He said it was common knowledge within the company that many under‑13 users remained on the platform, yet there were no specific goals or metrics to verify ages or remove those accounts.
Criticism of safety tools
Béjar singled out the 2021 “Take a Break” feature, calling it a tool “designed to fail.” The setting must be manually enabled by users and can be dismissed with a single tap, which he likened to an airbag that drivers must turn on each time they drive. He argued that a genuine safety mechanism should be enabled by default and not easily bypassed.
Legal context
The trial pits Meta against the states of California, Colorado, Kentucky and New Jersey. The four states are among 29 that sued the tech giant in 2023 over alleged violations of the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA) and state consumer‑protection laws. Plaintiffs claim Meta knowingly designed addictive features for minors, collected personal data without parental consent, and concealed the harms from the public.
Meta maintains that users must be at least 13 years old to create an account, complying with COPPA. Company lawyer Paul Schmidt told the court that Meta believes it has a responsibility to work with teens and parents to address mental‑health concerns.
Potential remedies
If the jury finds in favor of the states, the court could order changes to Facebook and Instagram’s user experience and impose financial penalties that may reach billions of dollars. California’s attorney general said the primary remedy would be an injunction to stop Meta from offering a dangerous product to teens and from misleading families about its safety.
The case highlights ongoing debates about the balance between technological innovation, corporate profit motives, and the constitutional rights of parents to protect their children’s welfare in the digital age.
Original reporting: Allentown News – 6abc Philadelphia — read the source article.
