OAKLAND, California (AP) 鈥� A former engineering director at Meta who has testified before Congress about child safety on Instagram told jurors Wednesday at a that the company took a 鈥渄on鈥檛 ask, don鈥檛 tell鈥� approach on kids under 13 on its platforms.
During his second day of testimony, said Meta consistently prioritized profits over safety in designing its products, focusing on how often and for how long people used them, even if it was detrimental to their mental well-being.
鈥淚f you step away from the product, they are not going to make any money,鈥� he said.
The trial that began Tuesday in federal court in Oakland, California, pits Meta against the states of California, Colorado, Kentucky and New Jersey and is expected to last about six weeks. The four states were among 29 that in 2023 over child safety and privacy 鈥� the other 25 will go to trial later. The company also in state courts, including one underway in Tennessee.
The lawsuit accuses Meta of contributing to the youth by knowingly and deliberately designing features that to its platforms and hide these harms from the public. It also argues that Meta routinely collects data on children under 13 without their parents鈥� consent, in violation of federal law.
鈥淭he attitude in particular on Instagram was 鈥楧on鈥檛 ask, don鈥檛 tell,鈥欌�� B茅jar said in response to a question about his perception of the company鈥檚 attitude towards users under 13.
The company has rejected the claims and said evidence at the trial will show its commitment to safety.
鈥淵ou will hear over the course of this case a lot of important issues, issues like teen mental health, issues like social media, issues like how teens use social media,鈥� Meta lawyer Paul Schmidt said Tuesday. 鈥淭hose are important issues, and they鈥檙e issues where Meta believes that it has a responsibility. It has a responsibility to act on its own. It has a responsibility to try to work with teens and parents in partnership to try to address those questions.鈥�
Plaintiffs’ witness says safety was an 鈥榓fterthought鈥�
B茅jar worked at Facebook from 2009 to 2015, attracting wide attention for his work to combat cyberbullying. He returned from 2019 to 2021 as a contractor to work on safety issues. He about social media and the teen mental health crisis, saying that Meta executives, including CEO Mark Zuckerberg, knew about harms Instagram was causing but chose not to make meaningful changes to address them.
In his testimony Wednesday, B茅jar said employee performance reviews and compensation for those who worked on user-facing products were mostly focused on user numbers and how long they spend with those products.
鈥淚n that context, safety was an afterthought,鈥� he said.
The states are seeking changes to user experiences for Facebook and Instagram as well as financial damages, which could include billions of dollars in penalties. In a written statement, the office of California’s attorney general said if Meta loses, the amount of any damages would be set by the court.
鈥淭his case is about stopping Meta from offering a dangerous product to teens, and from lying to teens, families, and the public about the dangerousness of their platforms. The primary remedy under our state consumer protection law is an injunction,鈥� the statement said.
B茅jar walked through Meta features he said were designed for adults and are 鈥渋nherently unsafe for teenagers.鈥�
This includes video autoplay, which can mean teens see videos that may cause them harm even if they don’t click on them; as well as various counters that track how many people liked, viewed or commented on your content or how many followers you have.
Child development experts have noted teenagers are more susceptible to social comparison than adults, so products that reward popularity can be more harmful to their mental health.
Age verification has been criticized for not going far enough
Meta says users must be at least 13 years old to create an account, in line with federal child privacy laws.
But B茅jar testified that he found 鈥渢ens of thousands鈥� of kids under 13 on Instagram through his research. He said it was 鈥渃ommon knowledge鈥� at the company that such young children were on Instagram.
鈥淢eta has one of the most sophisticated infrastructures in the world to detect fake accounts,鈥� he said. But despite that, he added, there were 鈥渘o goals, no metrics鈥� to detect and check kids鈥� ages who were suspected to be under 13.
Over the years, Meta has introduced features it says are designed to make the experience safer for young people. But B茅jar said these did not work.
For instance, a ,” introduced in 2021, is a feature that is “designed to fail,鈥� he said. First, it is a setting that people have to turn on if they want to use it. B茅jar said that in his experience building settings, very few users actually go through the trouble of turning them on. He compared it to an airbag that drivers have to turn on every time they get in a car.
鈥淎 safety tool has to be on by default,鈥� he said.
The feature can also be dismissed with a tap of a finger. If Meta was serious about wanting users to take a break, B茅jar said, it would not be so easily swiped away.
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AP Technology Writer Kaitlyn Huamani contributed to this story from Los Angeles.
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