Meta Platforms Inc. reportedly suppressed internal research into safety concerns on its virtual reality platforms, including findings that a child under the age of 10 had been sexually propositioned in-app.
“Meta knew that underage children were using its products, but figured, ‘Hey, kids drive engagement,’ and it was making them cash,” Jason Sattizahn, one of the whistleblowers who worked on the company’s VR research, said in a statement. “Meta has compromised their internal teams to manipulate research and straight-up erase data that they don’t like.”
Sattizahn has joined former and current Meta employees who have handed over a trove of documents to Congress. On Tuesday, Sattizahn and Meta’s lead researcher on youth user experience for VR, Cayce Savage, will appear before the U.S. Senate judiciary subcommittee on privacy, technology and the law in a meeting titled, “Hidden Harms: Examining Whistleblower Allegations that Meta Buried Child Safety Research.”
In response, Meta spokesperson Dani Lever pushed back on the claims, arguing they rely on “a few examples stitched together to fit a predetermined and false narrative.” Lever said that since early 2022, the company has approved nearly 180 Reality Labs studies on social issues such as youth safety and well-being. She added that the research has informed “significant product updates,” including new parental supervision tools, and noted that Meta’s VR headsets are intended for users aged 13 and older.
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