Online Reporter
WASHINGTON. – Two former Meta safety researchers told a US Senate committee on Tuesday that the social media giant covered up potential harms to children stemming from its virtual reality (VR) products.
“Meta has chosen to ignore the problems they created and bury evidence of users’ negative experiences,” said Jason Sattizahn.
The hearing comes a day after the Washington Post reported the whistleblowers’ allegations that Meta lawyers intervened to shape internal research that could have flagged risks.
Meta, the parent company of Facebook, Instagram, and WhatsApp, denies the allegations and in a statement referred to the “claims at the heart” of the hearing as “nonsense.”
Mr Sattizahn and Cayce Savage, who once lead research on the youth user experience for Meta’s VR platforms, told senators that the company demanded researchers erase evidence of sexual abuse risk on those products.
They also alleged the company told in-house researchers to avoid work that could produce evidence of harm from its VR products to children.
Ahead of the hearing, Meta knocked back the allegations.
The claims, the company said, are “based on selectively leaked internal documents that were picked specifically to craft a false narrative.”
There were also no bans or limits on carrying out research, a spokesperson added – saying the company has in recent years approved “nearly 180 Reality Labs-related studies on issues including youth safety and well-being.”
Mr Sattizahn, who worked at the company from 2018 to 2024, responded in testimony to the committee by calling Meta’s response to the Washington Post report a “lie by avoidance.”
“It’s pointing out some rote number that means nothing,” he said, insisting that Meta’s research is being “pruned and manipulated.”
During one exchange with US Senator John Hawley, a Republican from Missouri, Ms Savage alleged that during her research, she identified that Roblox, the online game platform popular among children, was being used by coordinated paedophile rings.
“They set up strip clubs and they pay children to strip” with Robux, the app’s currency, which can be converted into real money, Ms Savage said.
“I flagged this to Meta and said that under no circumstances should we host the app Roblox on their headset,” Ms Savage said. Roblox is still available in the Meta VR app store, she noted. – BBC
