Washington: A group of six whistleblowers have raised Meta VR whistleblower allegations, claiming the company has covered up evidence of harm to children using its virtual reality products.
The disclosures state that Meta, the parent company of Facebook and Instagram, has deleted or manipulated internal safety research that revealed children were being exposed to sexual harassment, grooming, and violence in its VR environments.
Jason Sattizahn, one of the whistleblowers and a former member of the VR research team, said that Meta knowingly allowed underage users on its platforms, prioritising engagement and profit over safety. Sattizahn added that internal teams were compromised to manipulate results and erase unfavourable data. Sattizahn and Cayce Savage, who served as Meta’s lead youth experience researcher for VR, have provided documents and testimony to the US Senate judiciary subcommittee on privacy, technology, and the law.
Meta spokesperson Dani Lever has responded by saying that since 2022, the company has authorised more than 180 studies on VR safety and wellbeing, including those involving young users. Lever dismissed the whistleblower allegations as isolated examples being used to fit a false narrative. Lever also said that Meta has rolled out tools for parental supervision and features aimed at preventing unwanted contact.
The whistleblowers argue, however, that senior managers discouraged staff from exploring topics that could show negative effects on children. In one example, a researcher was told to ‘swallow that ick’ when raising safety concerns. Another researcher was reportedly instructed to delete details from an interview with a German family, where a boy under the age of 10 had allegedly been propositioned by adults while using VR.
The allegations have surfaced at a time when Meta has already faced criticism from lawmakers for failing to adequately protect children across its platforms. In a high-profile hearing in January 2024, Senator Josh Hawley pressed Meta chief executive Mark Zuckerberg into apologising to families who had suffered from harmful content pushed toward youth users.
Senator Marsha Blackburn of Tennessee said that the new disclosures highlight an urgent need for legislation to regulate social media companies. Blackburn said that instead of addressing widespread child harm, Meta silenced employees and buried evidence while profiting from increased engagement.
The six whistleblowers are represented by Whistleblower Aid, a nonprofit organisation, and are scheduled to testify before Congress. They have also submitted disclosures to the Securities and Exchange Commission and the Federal Trade Commission, escalating the scrutiny on Meta’s handling of VR safety research.
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