Overview

• Arturo Bejar, a former Facebook engineer and consultant for Instagram, testifies before the Senate Subcommittee on Privacy, Technology, and Law that Meta executives ignored warnings about Instagram's harmful effects on teenagers.
• Despite Bejar's efforts to flag these issues to top leadership, no significant actions were taken to mitigate the harm. Bejar revealed this information during his testimony, sparking further scrutiny on Meta's handling of user safety concerns.
• He recounts his own daughter's troubling experiences with Instagram, including receiving repeated unwanted sexual advances, and his unsuccessful attempts to bring about change within the company.
• Despite widespread support for bills protecting kids online, these have largely sat dormant in Congress as lawmakers blame tech lobbying for stalling their progress.
• Bejar suggests the need for regulating social media companies by requiring them to develop metrics for evaluating and tracking instances of harm as experienced by users, emphasizing the need for transparency about these harms and appropriate support mechanisms for teenagers.