Meta Whistleblower Alleges That His Repeated Warnings To Mark Zuckerberg About Teen Safety Issues On Instagram Were Ignored

The safety of Instagram for teenagers has once again come under scrutiny, as Meta whistleblower Arturo Bejar raises alarms about the platform’s inadequacies, using the tragic instance of Molly Russell as a reference.

What Happened: A veteran Silicon Valley professional, Béjar voiced his concerns about Instagram’s safety measures for teenagers in a public statement, following private attempts to address the issue with Meta and Instagram’s top executives, including Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg, as reported by The Telegraph.

He alleges that his repeated warning to Zuckerberg were ignored.

Béjar brought up the case of Russell, a 14-year-old British teenager who took her life in 2017. Molly had saved over 2,100 posts related to depression and self-harm on her phone, a majority of which were not against Instagram’s rules, according to information provided to the coroner last year.

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After his interview with The Telegraph, Béjar expressed that he was "thinking about Molly Russell all day.”

The whistleblower challenged Instagram’s policies, questioning the percentage of Molly’s saved content that was in violation. He criticized the platform for enabling “awful, but not violating content”, which leaves teens with no means to report or seek help. He also stated that Instagram’s current design does not encourage teenagers to report unsettling content.

Why It Matters: This incident is not the first time that Instagram’s safety policies for teenagers have been called into question. Earlier this month, Béjar testified before a U.S. Senate subcommittee, highlighting the dangers teens face online, especially on social media platforms like Instagram. Bejar’s testimony revealed that Meta was aware of the risks teens faced on its platforms but had not taken enough protective measures.

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