Meta hid harms to children from VR products, whistleblowers allege

"A group of six whistleblowers have come forward with allegations of a cover-up of harm to children on Meta's 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."

"Meta knew that underage children were using its products, but figured, Hey, kids drive engagement,' and it was making them cash, Jason Sattizahn, one of the whistleblowers who worked on the company's VR research, said in a statement. Meta has compromised their internal teams to manipulate research and straight-up erase data that they don't like. 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,"

"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. These few examples are being stitched together to fit a predetermined and false narrative, she said, adding that Meta has introduced features to its VR products to limit unwanted contact and supervision tools for parents."

Six current or former Meta employees allege internal safety research on Meta's virtual reality products was deleted or doctored to hide evidence that children faced grooming, sexual harassment and violence in 3D virtual realms. The whistleblowers say managers discouraged or blocked research likely to show child harm and manipulated data to protect company interests. They disclosed documents to Congress and prepared to testify before a Senate subcommittee. Meta says it has approved numerous VR studies since 2022 and added safety and parental supervision features, while denying that the examples represent a systemic cover-up. Whistleblowers maintain protections remain insufficient.

Read at www.theguardian.com