According to the Post, internal documents show that after former Meta product manager Frances Haugen leaked damaging information about the company’s policies on content issues, the company imposed new rules on any research into “sensitive” topics including children, gender, race and harassment.
This included advice to researchers to “be mindful” about how they framed studies, avoiding terms like “illegal” or saying something “violates” specific laws.
But the documents reveal employees repeatedly warned that children under 13 were bypassing age restrictions to use Meta’s VR services, despite terms of service limiting access to users 13 and older.
As early as 2017, one employee estimated that in some virtual rooms as many as 80 to 90% of users were underage, warning: “This is the kind of thing that eventually makes headlines – in a really bad way.”
Speaking to the Post, Meta vehemently denied the allegations, spokeswoman Dani Lever calling them a “predetermined and false narrative” based on cherry-picked examples.
“We stand by our research team’s excellent work and are dismayed by these mischaracterisations of the team’s efforts,” Lever said, noting the company has developed various safety protections for young users.
Researcher Jason Sattizahn told the Senate hearing that it was “very clear that Meta is incapable of change without being forced by Congress”.
“Whether it’s engagement or profits at any cost, they have, frankly, had unearned opportunities to correct their behaviour, and they have not,” Sattizahn told senators.
-Agence France-Presse
