Dear Friend,
The shocking, but not surprising, findings revealed this week by Meta’s whistleblower Arturo Bejar confirm what CCDH’s research has shown: Mark Zuckerberg’s company puts profit over kids’ safety.
In 2021, Bejar repeatedly alerted Meta executives that Instagram wasn’t safe for young people. One of the shocking stats shared by him was that 1 in 8 users under 16 said they had faced unwanted sexual advances on the platform over the previous 7 days. Two years later, Bejar says that nothing has changed.
What’s worse, the whistleblower disclosed Meta sustained efforts to obscure the truth from the public and lawmakers.
Meta’s disregard for young people’s wellbeing is not new. In March this year, we explored the company’s flagship VR app, Horizon Worlds, and found minors being exposed to bullying, harassment, and explicit content. Yet Meta refused to turn back on its plan to allow 13 to 17-year-olds in their VR app.
In April 2022, we exposed how Instagram was failing to act on 9 out of 10 reports of misogynistic harassment sent via DMs. We found how harassment, violent threats, and image-based sexual abuse can be sent by strangers to anyone via Instagram DMs.
Unregulated social media companies are harming young people’s mental health. CCDH’s polling showed that American teens who spend 4 or more hours a day on any single platform were the most likely group to agree with the conspiracy statements presented by us.
Mark Zuckerberg and other tech billionaires must stop prioritizing profit over young people’s safety. Will you join our call on governments and lawmakers to put an end to this vile business model and finally regulate social media companies?
Thank you for your ongoing support, Friend. Together we can hold these companies accountable and ensure that they put people, not profits first.
