Meta whistleblower Sarah Wynn-Williams, the former Director of Global Public Policy for Facebook and author of the recently released tell-all book “Careless People,” told U.S. senators during her testimony on Wednesday that Meta actively targeted teens with advertisements based on their emotional state.
This claim was first documented by Wynn-Williams in her book, which documents her time at Facebook and the “careless” disregard from its top execs, including CEO Mark Zuckerberg and former COO Sheryl Sandberg, about the power the tech company wields in the world and its capability to do harm.
Though the focus of Wednesday’s hearing was largely on Meta’s dealings with China and how it may have misrepresented its plans in prior Congressional hearings, the senators were also keen to ask about Instagram, given that the social app had been the subject of earlier Congressional investigations into Meta’s harms to children back in 2021.
In response to a question from Sen. Marsha Blackburn (R-TN), Wynn-Williams admitted that Meta (which was then known as Facebook) had targeted 13- to 17-year-olds with ads when they were feeling down or depressed.
“It could identify when they were feeling worthless or helpless or like a failure, and [Meta] would take that information and share it with advertisers,” Wynn-Williams told the senators on the subcommittee for crime and terrorism within the Judiciary Committee. “Advertisers understand that when people don’t feel good about themselves, it’s...
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