Ex-Meta engineer accuses Instagram of 'don't ask, don't tell' approach on kids

Instagram has been accused of adopting a "don't ask, don't tell" approach to underage users, with a former Meta engineering director claiming that child safety was secondary to user engagement and profits. Arturo Bejar, who previously testified before U.S. Congress on child safety, made these remarks during his testimony in a significant trial against Meta in federal court in Oakland, California.

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The attitude in particular on Instagram was 'Don't ask, don't tell.'

Bejar stated that the company's focus was on how frequently and for how long users interacted with its products, even if it negatively impacted their mental well-being. He explained that employee performance and compensation were largely tied to metrics like user numbers and time spent on the platform, leading to safety concerns being an "afterthought."

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If you step away from the product, they are not going to make any money.

The trial involves Meta facing lawsuits from 29 states, including California, Colorado, Kentucky, and New Jersey. These states allege that Meta's platform design intentionally encouraged addiction among children, thereby contributing to the youth mental health crisis. The lawsuit also claims Meta unlawfully collected data from children under 13 without parental consent.

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In that context, safety was an afterthought.

Meta has refuted these allegations, asserting that evidence will demonstrate its commitment to safety. Meta's lawyer, Paul Schmidt, acknowledged the importance of issues like teen mental health and social media use, stating the company has a responsibility to address these concerns in partnership with teens and parents. Bejar, however, countered that Meta's "Take a Break" feature, introduced in 2021, was designed to be ineffective, as users had to manually activate it and could easily dismiss it, arguing that safety tools should be enabled by default.

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Those are important issues, and they're issues where Meta believes that it has a responsibility. It has a responsibility to act on its own. It has a responsibility to try to work with teens and parents in partnership to try to address those questions.