The $17 billion mega-settlement that states reached with Meta last week does not go far enough to save lives, according to a Facebook whistleblower and key witness in the kids' safety trial.
Arturo Bejar, a former safety employee at Facebook, said in an interview that the agreement overrelies on time limits and other ways Meta can try to reduce harm, without doing enough to hold the company accountable for whether those methods succeed.
"I've spoken to around 40-something bereaved parents," Bejar told POLITICO. "Social media recently played a meaningful role in their kids' death, and these changes would not have saved one of those lives if they had been in place."
The settlement came midway through a high-profile civil trial in which Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg had been expected to testify over claims by California and more than two dozen other states that the company has intentionally hooked kids on its platforms while misleading users about their potential harms. The deal was heralded by the states as "a watershed moment" on a bipartisan issue where Congress has struggled to legislate, with the deal extending to at least 47 states, as well as the District of Columbia and U.S. territories.
Under the settlement, minors would get no more than two hours of access to Meta platforms Facebook and Instagram daily and be blocked overnight unless a parent decides to override the restrictions. The company will also have to bring on an independent auditor to police its compliance.
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