Arturo Béjar, a whistleblower and former Facebook safety engineer who worked directly with Meta’s CEO, Mark Zuckerberg, said that the most objectionable features which make Meta platforms unsafe for children were never seriously challenged in the August 26 proposed settlement. Béjar said, “As with tobacco and opioids, the product continues to be harmful after the settlement,” according to London’s The Guardian.
Béjar argued that the settlement was too focused on restricting the number of hours that children were exposed to the unsafe content, instead of the addictive nature or the mental health threat of the platforms. He said that the feature that makes these platforms addictive are the algorithms that decide content and that this will essentially remain in place under the agreement. He added that there is no requirement to reduce harm and no independent oversight.
