Former Meta safety engineer Arturo Béjar testified that internal studies showed elevated exposure of children to harmful content and that executives repeatedly failed to act. He said Meta reframed "addiction" as "problematic use" and published metrics that tracked policy violations rather than measuring real harm. The multistate trial by 29 attorneys general alleges addiction-by-design, COPPA violations and misleading safety claims and is expected to run at least six weeks.
Meta Whistleblower Says Company Repeatedly Ignored Child-Safety Warnings in Federal Trial
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Arturo Béjar, a former Meta safety engineer and whistleblower, told a federal jury on Tuesday that Meta operated with a "don't ask, don't tell" approach to child safety, alleging leadership repeatedly received warnings about risks to young users and largely ignored them. Béjar is scheduled to resume testimony on Wednesday.
What Béjar Said
Béjar testified that internal studies showed children encountered harmful material at elevated rates — including algorithmic recommendations that surfaced content from sexual predators and graphic violent imagery. He said he raised those findings with Facebook and Instagram executives multiple times but saw little meaningful action.
During his second stint at Meta (2019–2021), Béjar said the company shifted its terminology from "addiction" to "problematic use," language he argued fell short of academic definitions of addiction. He also testified that the public metrics Meta released tracked violations of content policies rather than measuring real-world harm to young users, creating what he described as a misleading picture of safety.
"I felt that he created a false and misleading impression of Facebook's commitment to young people," Béjar testified about a 2021 public statement by CEO Mark Zuckerberg. He estimated he briefed Zuckerberg on product concerns at least 100 times during his tenure.
Case Background and Stakes
The trial opened Tuesday in federal court in Oakland, California, before U.S. District Judge Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers. The lawsuit was brought by 29 state attorneys general, who allege Meta intentionally designed Facebook and Instagram to be addictive to minors, collected data on children under 13 without parental consent in violation of the federal Children's Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA), and misled the public about platform safety. Opening arguments were presented by attorneys for California, Colorado, Kentucky and New Jersey.
"Meta Hooked Users, Held Them, Harvested Their Data, And Hid The Truth," California Deputy Attorney General Megan O'Neill told the eight-member advisory jury. "Meta said it prioritized safety over profits, but it hid the reality that when it came time to make a decision, time and again profits won."
Meta's lead counsel, Paul Schmidt, said the states selectively quoted internal documents to construct a misleading narrative and pointed to the company's safety measures, including parental controls, privacy defaults for teenagers, and on-screen reminders to limit time on the apps.
The trial is expected to last at least six weeks. Witnesses likely to testify include Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg and Instagram CEO Adam Mosseri. The states have sought penalties that Meta calculated could total as much as $1.4 trillion — a figure close to the company's market valuation — though California Attorney General Rob Bonta said the states have not settled on a specific dollar amount.
Related Rulings
Meta has already lost two child-safety cases this year. In New Mexico, a jury found Meta failed to shield minors from sexual predators and violated state consumer-protection laws, leading a judge to order $942 million in damages. A Los Angeles jury separately ordered Meta and YouTube to pay $6 million in an addiction-related case. Meta has said it will appeal both rulings and denies the allegations in the current lawsuit.
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