Sen. Josh Hawley, R-Mo., called to "open the courtroom doors" so parents can sue Meta, accusing founder and CEO Mark Zuckerberg of misleading Congress after whistleblowers detailed child safety failures on the company’s virtual reality (VR) platforms.
Two former Meta researchers told a Senate panel Tuesday that the company buried child harm evidence in VR, killed age-verification studies and let AI chatbots flirt with kids, prompting a bipartisan push to pass measures protecting minors online.
"The claims at the heart of this hearing are nonsense; they’re based on selectively leaked internal documents that were picked specifically to craft a false narrative," a Meta spokesperson said.
"The truth is there was never any blanket prohibition on conducting research with young people and, since the start of 2022, Meta approved nearly 180 Reality Labs-related studies on issues including youth safety and well-being."
Testifying before the Senate were Cayce Savage and Jason Sattizahn, both former Meta researchers.
Sattizahn alleged Meta routinely prioritized engagement and profit over safety — especially for kids — and manipulated or erased research showing harm.
He said despite attempts to curb data collection, the studies researchers could run still showed the company’s products endangered users.
Germany once banned Meta’s VR sales over data treatment concerns; after sales resumed in 2022, Sattizahn was sent to conduct research there.
He said he understood Meta was trying to...
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