Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg prioritised the company’s growth and user engagement over protecting children on Facebook and Instagram, a former Meta engineer told a US court on Wednesday.
Arturo Bejar, a former engineering director at Meta and outspoken critic of the company’s safety practices, made the allegation while continuing his testimony in a landmark trial involving 29 US states.
In an earlier report by Tech Regard, Arturo Bejar is the first witness in this trial and has previously testified against Meta in other cases.
Bejar told lawyers for the states that Meta’s focus on engagement and profit came at the expense of safety measures for young users.
He also criticised Meta’s tool that encourages users to take breaks from its platforms, describing it as “designed to fail” because the feature is not activated by default and its reminders can easily be ignored.
Bejar said it was “common knowledge” within Meta that many parents did not have enough time to understand how the company’s products worked or how their children used them.
He further alleged that Meta had technology capable of identifying potentially millions of users who were under 13 but chose not to aggressively enforce the restriction because keeping those users on its platforms would benefit the company financially.
Under cross-examination by Meta’s lawyer, Brian Stekloff, Bejar acknowledged that he had not initially realised the harm his teenage daughter could face when he helped her create an Instagram account.
Bejar said his daughter, who wanted to use the platform to connect with women interested in cars, was later subjected to misogynistic comments, including remarks about her breasts.
“I kept an eye on how distressing it was for her, she got a good following, at the price of harm,” he told the court.
He said he eventually contacted Zuckerberg about his daughter’s experience in 2021, when she was 16.
Bejar also acknowledged during questioning that Meta employs hundreds of people working on safety issues, including staff he considered highly qualified.
He said he was not working directly with Zuckerberg during his second period at the company and had limited access to certain resources as an outside contractor.
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After Bejar completed his testimony, jurors heard recorded testimony from Elena Davis, a former Meta researcher who examined the addictive nature of social media.
Davis cited research suggesting that Meta could modify Facebook to make it less habit-forming and provide users with greater support to break unwanted usage habits.
The trial, which is expected to last six weeks, centres on allegations that Meta designed Facebook and Instagram to keep young users engaged, misled the public about their safety and improperly collected data from children under 13.
Meta has denied the allegations and has defended its efforts to protect young users.
About the Author
Cecilia Attah is a tech analyst with a degree from Benue State University. She covers tech news and startups at TechRegard with a focus on how technology is transforming Africa and shaping the global landscape.
