Company accused of manipulating virtual reality research as senator attacks Meta\u2019s \u2018disgusting web of lies\u2019<\/p>\n\n\n\n
A group of six whistleblowers have come forward with allegations of a cover-up of harm to children on Meta\u2019s virtual reality devices and apps. They say the social media company, which owns Facebook, Instagram, and offers a line of VR headsets and games, deleted or doctored internal safety research that showed children being exposed to grooming, sexual harassment and violence in its 3D realms.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cMeta knew that underage children were using its products, but figured, \u2018Hey, kids drive engagement,\u2019 and it was making them cash,\u201d Jason Sattizahn, one of the whistleblowers who worked on the company\u2019s VR research, said in a statement. \u201cMeta has compromised their internal teams to manipulate research and straight-up erase data that they don\u2019t like.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Sattizahn and the other whistleblowers, all current or former Meta employees, have disclosed these findings and a trove of documents to Congress, according to the Washington Post<\/a>, which first reported the allegations. Sattizahn and Cayce Savage, who was Meta\u2019s lead researcher on youth user experience for VR, will appear before the US Senate judiciary subcommittee on privacy, technology and the law on Tuesday.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Dani Lever, a Meta spokesperson, said the company has approved 180 studies related to its VR Reality Labs since 2022, which include research on youth safety and wellbeing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cThese few examples are being stitched together to fit a predetermined and false narrative,\u201d she said, adding that Meta has introduced features to its VR products to limit unwanted contact and supervision tools for parents.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The whistleblower allegations made public on Monday claim that on Meta\u2019s VR products, the company could have done more to ensure children\u2019s safety. The whistleblowers say company managers instructed staff to avoid research that might show evidence of child harm in virtual reality.<\/p>\n\n\n\n In one instance, a researcher was reportedly told to \u201cswallow that ick\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n In another instance, a researcher was allegedly told to delete information from an interview they had conducted with a German family, according to the Washington Post. During that interview, a teenage boy told the researcher that his brother, who was under the age of 10, had \u201cfrequently encountered strangers\u201d in Meta\u2019s VR and that \u201cadults had sexually propositioned his little brother\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The allegations arise as a steady procession of former Meta employees have\u2002come forward to criticize the company<\/a> for not doing enough to protect children from harm on its social media products. Lawmakers have also repeatedly grilled Meta executives for pushing content to youth that promotes bullying, drug abuse and self-harm.<\/p>\n\n\n\n