Arturo Béjar, a former engineer at Meta, testified in court against the social media company in Oakland, California. His testimony is part of a landmark child safety trial that accuses Meta of putting user numbers over safety. Béjar claims only Mark Zuckerberg could change this culture but chose not to.
The trial was initiated by a coalition of states, including California, Colorado, Kentucky, and New Jersey, accusing Meta of violating child data protection laws. They allege the company misled the public about risks its platforms pose, particularly to young users.
According to Béjar, Meta’s platforms like Facebook and Instagram employed features like infinite scrolling and the “like” button to hook young users and keep them engaged. Despite denials from Meta, attorneys for the states argue that these features prioritize user retention over safety.
Béjar stated, “At the end of the day, it was the company culture that Mark had created that made it so that it was practically impossible to deliver features that addressed the wellbeing and safety issues that we’ve been talking about.”
Attorney Paul Schmidt, representing Meta, opened by arguing that the company was aware of the risks and strived to address them responsibly. The trial has yet to determine if Mark Zuckerberg will testify.
In his court appearance, Béjar criticized Zuckerberg for dishonesty about the company prioritizing profits over safety. He referenced internal Meta studies highlighting risks to teens and said that Meta consistently chose user engagement over safety. Béjar worked at Meta from 2009 to 2015 and returned from 2019 to 2021.
This trial challenges Meta over the addictive components of its platforms. States allege these features encourage compulsive use and benefit Meta financially through increased ad revenue. Béjar’s testimony describes features like infinite scroll as “inherently unsafe for teenagers.” He criticized attempts like Instagram’s “quiet mode,” calling them “designed to fail” because they are optional.
The trial, potentially lasting six weeks, is significant for holding Meta accountable for the design of its platform features rather than its content.
The Chan Zuckerberg Initiative, founded by Mark Zuckerberg and Dr. Priscilla Chan, supports NPR financially.