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Meta settlement fails to satisfy whistleblower on teen safety
Whistleblower Arturo Béjar, an ex-Meta engineer, argued the deal limits are like partial cigarette restrictions, and states say Meta’s alleged design choices drove teen mental health harms.
A key witness in the US government’s landmark case against Meta says a multibillion-dollar settlement reached Wednesday does not go far enough to stop harms to teenagers on Facebook and Instagram, according to the Guardian Business.
Whistleblower and former Meta engineer Arturo Béjar said the agreement’s limits are not an all clear that the products are safe, using an analogy that he argued would not make cigarettes safer even if consumption were restricted for a short period each day.
Dozens of states sued Meta, alleging it built addictive products linked to mental health problems for young people, including disordered eating, depression and suicide. Under the settlement, Meta is set to make major changes, including strict limits on how much time teens can spend on the apps, plus default teen safety settings.
The outlet reported that many of the required updates expand parental oversight of app usage and make existing teen safety settings the default, including options such as a non-algorithmic feed when teens open accounts, parental controls, and the ability to revert feeds to non-personalized content. The deal also introduces “night mode” and “school mode” to restrict usage during certain hours and disables by default social comparison features like beauty filters and likes, while Meta disputed Béjar’s criticism that the focus was too narrow.