WASHINGTON: Former and current Meta employees have testified that the company systematically suppressed internal research highlighting child safety risks on its virtual reality platforms.
Six researchers alleged that Meta deployed lawyers to screen, edit and sometimes veto sensitive safety studies following congressional scrutiny in 2021.
The whistleblowers claim Meta’s legal team sought to establish plausible deniability about negative effects of VR products on young users according to their Washington Post revelations.
Meta remains a leading force in the VR industry through its Quest device lineup despite the division being unprofitable for the Facebook and Instagram parent company.
Former Meta researcher Cayce Savage told the US Senate hearing that the company purposely turns a blind eye to underage children using its VR platform.
Internal documents show Meta imposed new rules on sensitive research topics including children, gender, race and harassment after Frances Haugen’s 2021 leaks.
Researchers received advice to avoid terms like illegal or violates when framing studies according to the reported documents.
Employees repeatedly warned that children under 13 were bypassing age restrictions to use Meta’s VR services despite terms requiring users to be 13 or older.
One employee estimated as early as 2017 that 80 to 90 percent of users in some virtual rooms were underage predicting this would eventually make bad headlines.
Meta spokeswoman Dani Lever vehemently denied the allegations calling them a predetermined and false narrative based on cherry-picked examples.
Lever stated the company stands by its research team’s excellent work and has developed various safety protections for young users.
Researcher Jason Sattizahn told senators that Meta is incapable of change without being forced by Congress after unearned opportunities to correct behaviour.
Sattizahn concluded that Meta prioritises engagement or profits at any cost despite having chances to address these issues properly. – AFP
