Up next, for consulted and engineering facebook testifies about the impact the company has had on children. The hearing is just over two hours. Hours. This this hearing of the subcommittee on Technology Privacy and the law will come to order. Thank you, everyone for attending. My thanks to Ranking Member and particularly to the chairman of the Judiciary Committee for giving us this opportunity. He is finally interested in this topic and i will call on him after senator holly for his remarks. We are gathered today to hear testimony from a whistleblower and engineer widely respected and admired in the industry. Not just any expert, but an engineer hired specifically by facebook to help protect against harm to children. Make recommendation for making facebook safer. We have known for more than a decade that the rights of teenagers suffering from suicide hospitalization for selfharm and depression have skyrocketed. As he knows, these numbers are more than statistics, but real people. His daughter is one of them. The former director of former directing and protective care at facebook and he will tell us about the evidence that he brought directly to the attention of the top management of facebook and meta , Mark ZuckerbergMichelle Sandberg and others. In meetings and memos, he raised an alarm about statistics showing facebook is prevalent and harm to teams. Telling Mark Zuckerberg in a memo that more than half of facebook users had bad or harmful experiences within the last week. Instead of real reform, he will testify that facebook engaged in a purposeful public strategy of destruction, denial and deception. They hate from this committee and all of congress, evidence of the harm that they knew was credible. They ignored and disregarded recommendation for making the site safer and rolled back some of the existing protections. Now, he is not the first or the only whistleblower to come forward. We have heard from francis who showed that facebooks own researchers describe instagram as a perfect storm and that it exacerbates downward spirals. Eating disorders and depression, as well. He is the first to show in documents and not just in recollection, but documents how he warned the top management of facebook and instagram of the ongoing harm that their products were causing. We are going to present those documents for the record and they show, for example, over a quarter of young teens 13 to 15 years old report receiving sexual advances on instagram and nearly a third of young teenagers have seen discrimination based on gender, religion, race and sexual orientation. A quarter of young teen, they have been bullied or threatened. Nearly a quarter of young teenagers was part report feelings about themselves and their social relationship. The type of experiences that lead to serious depression and eating disorders. When users reported harmful content to facebook, it took action where only 2 of the time. Remedies only 2 of the time. There is a history here. In august, 2021, senator black and i wrote to facebook about the impact of their products on kids. We asked, has Facebook Research ever found that its platforms and products can have a negative effect on childrens and teenagers Mental Health or wellbeing . Facebook refused to answer. In october 2021, senator blackburn and i held a hearing and was heard from francis about instagrams harm on that same day, mr. Bejar sent an email to Mark Zuckerberg , Sheryl Sandberg and other executives validating that email actually demonstrated even greater harm than more than public in a searing indictment of instagram and facebook. I ask that it be made part of the record without objection. In december 2021, then testified to the committee, subcommittee, after he met with bejar discussing the numbers and statistics relating to suicide. During the hearing, a number of us asked him about facebook promoting suicide. He knew, but didnt disclose that on a weekly basis around 7 of facebook users overall in counter context promoting suicide and selfharm with 13 to 15yearolds seeing it more often than others. There is a pattern here with facebook. It hides risks by saying things like leaving and harassment is only 0. 08 percent of content when in reality, meta executives know that 11 of those 13 to 15yearolds face bullying every single week. That is every single week on instagram. To be clear, that is millions of children and teenagers. Its not just a number. Behind every one of those numbers is a real person and teenager. A child whose life is changed maybe forever by that searing experience of bullying, eating disorder content, suicide promotion. We can no longer rely on social media. We can no longer depend on putting the blame or responsibility on parents. What is needed now is legislative reform, kids Online Safety act and senator blackburn and i have enlisted more than 45 of our colleagues and almost half of the United States senate in favor of the kids Online Safety act. The final point that i would make is that social media and particularly facebook, still fails to take that seriously. This june, the wall street journal found that instagram was hosting open markets for child abuse material and recommending pedophiles to each other. Young teenagers were being extorted and coerced into sexual acts and instagram was complicit. Mr. Bejar, you provided Mark Zuckerberg , adam and others in management with specific recommendations about this unwanted sexual contact and grassman. And those were never adopted. You have put your career on the line to come forward and experience and trusted Industry Expert whose job was to make facebook safer and your recommendations were purposefully ignored or disregarded or rejected. Im just going to remind my colleagues that we have heard from young people, as well as parents about the harm. One of them told me how many more children have to die before congress will do something . That is why we are here today. I want to thank all of my colleagues who are present. It is truly a Bipartisan Group on behalf of of this cause and i turned to Ranking Member senator holly. Thank you very much. Thank you for convening this hearing. This is such a vital hearing on a vital topic. To be honest, ticket concerns epipens. I see that you are nodding, bejar. You are a father and that subject composes. I am also a father of three. What you have brought to this committee today is something that every parent in America Needs to hear. The numbers are really stunning. One in four teenagers minor children will experience sexual solicitation on metas platforms. One in eight say they have experienced unwanted sexual advances. We are talking about children and not adults who have experienced this in last week. Of course, we know from metas own internal research that they knew the extent of the problem even as they were ignoring you and i want to turn to some of the research that we just referenced. These are metas own words from their own internal research on the effect of their own product on children and particularly young women. Quote, we make body image issues was for one in three teenage girls. Quote, teenagers blame instagram for increases in the rate of anxiety and depression. This reaction was unprompted and consistent across all groups. Quote, teenagers told us that they dont like the amount of time that they spend on the app, but they feel they have to be present. They often feel addicted and know that what they are seeing is not for their Mental Health, but feel unable to stop themselves. This is the reality that meta, instagram and facebook new that these were happening. He pointed this out to them, too. Still, they did nothing. They did worse than nothing. Your testimony shows that when you brought these concerns to them and when you exposed this reality, rather than respond, they cook the books. They started telling the public, congress and every parent in america, we get 90 of unwanted sexual material, pornography, terrorism threats and we take it down. Our ai systems find it and take it down, but what you expose is that those systems are catching only a small percentage of that kind of abuse of material online. When facebook is out there promoting to the world that we are taking down the vast majority, it is simply not true. They know its not true and the statistic is designed to mislead. They are deliberately misleading parents about what is on their platform. They are deliberately misleading parents about the safety of their children online. I just want to echo something. It is time for congress to take action. It was 10 years ago for congress to take action. It is an indictment of the body to be honest with you that we have not acted and we all know the reason why, if i could start with plain talk you this morning. Big tech is the biggest and most powerful lobby in the u. S. Congress. They spend millions of dollars every year to lobby this body the truth is that as every reporter in the room knows and i hope you will reported after this hearing, they do it successfully. They successfully shut down every meaningful piece of legislation. I have only been here for four years and i have seen it repeatedly in the short time i have been here. We get all kinds of speeches and speeches on the floor, then this body will do nothing. Money, that is why. Influencing votes and a hammer hold on this process. It is time for it to be broken. The only way i know to break it is to bring the truth forward, which is why we are glad that you, bejar, are here today. This time must be different. They have armies of lawyers and lobbyists. They spend tons of money. This time must be different. Thank you. Let me follow up with senator hawleys comments. I couldnt agree more. I could not agree more. In the senate Judiciary Committee and after some graphic earrings where parents and victims came forward and told us what had happened online , we decided to take action. We pass six bills related to this issue. Child sexual abuse and six bills. Something that was miraculous, all six passed unanimously put every democrat and republican. Take a look at the folks. It is across the political spectrum. We all agree on this. What has happened . Nothing. Six waiting for a day on the calendar. Six bills waiting for a national debate. Six bills passed unanimously and they put real teeth and enforcement and i think that is why they have gone nowhere. Big tech is the big kid on the block when it comes to this issue and many other issues before us. That is the reality. I want to thank senator hawley for bringing together so many members of the hearing. Office also be our philosophy and senators in charge, do your best and take your issue that mean something to you and do your best to bring it to the American People and legislation to the floor of the United States senate. This committee is one that im counting on to be successful in this regard. Mr. Bejar, thank you for the kind of stepping up and speaking up. The only thing i would say is, its not only a parents issue, but grandparents issue, too. We see this and it scares us. Thank you. I am particularly intrigued by your idea of the survey, so we find out from the source what has really happened. My experience on capitol hill goes back so many years. I took on a tobacco issue where we are hitting her head against the wall and trying to penetrate this vast lobby at the time. The one way we managed to penetrate it is to make it a childrens issue. A lot of good things started happening. Why is it that this issue that relates to our kids so much more and more dangerous even than tobacco, why is it so difficult . Senator hawley is correct. We are fighting the biggest kid on the block. Thank you, mr. Chairman. Thank you for your leadership on this issue. I will turn to senator graham if he has any opening remarks. Very quickly and maybe number seven is the magic number of bills. The next bill, i hope thank you for doing this. It is section 230. The other bills are going nowhere until they believe that they can be sued in court. The day they know that the courtroom is open to their Business Practices, they will flood us with all kinds of ideas. Until that day comes, nothing will happen. They are going to go to the floor to die and what is the house doing . The bottom line is that society cannot take care of its children or refuses to has a bleak future. Thank you for doing this. Thanks. Senator blackburn . Thank you, mr. Chairman. Mr. Bejar, thank you for the time that you have given. As you have met with us and for being so open when you met with senator and i last week i really appreciate this. As senator blumenthal said, we have worked on this for years. He built the timeline outgoing to 2021, but the work that we were doing and looking at big tech and looking at some of the problems and lack of privacy and frustration of people not being able to control who had access to their virtual is what led us to this point to begin to look at what was happening to our children. As i told you in our meeting, the day we had that first hearing looking at what was happening online with children was like the floodgates opened. We started hearing from parents not only in tennessee and not only in connecticut, but across the country who are saying, can i please tell you my story . The reason they did this is because their hearts were breaking. Their children had committed suicide. Their children had met a drug dealer. The children had met a pedophile. Their child had met a trafficker. They had been exposed to Cyber Bullying and committed suicide. They were looking up ways to commit suicide. There are laws in the physical world that protect children from all of this, but online, it has been the wild west. As my colleagues have said, we have put this army of lobbyists for years. Big tech has proven that they are completely incapable of governing themselves and of setting up rules. Of having guidelines and designing for safety. It is so important that we move forward with this. One thing i will add, which is so important for you being here and our colleagues that want part of what we were doing, in 2021, when he came before us as the ceo of instagram indicated that they were taking steps. We find out that they were not. We find out from the advice and awareness that you provided Mark Zuckerberg and adam mosseri , what did they do with that . They made a conscious decision to ignore your advice and guidance and use our kids as the product. The longer they are online, the richer the data is. The richer the data, the more money they make. They have monetized what comes from our children being addicted to social media. Thank you so much for being here today. Thank you, mr. Chairman. Thanks, senator blackburn. Let me formerly formally introduce arturo bejar. He is a former security engineer with very significant experience working on user safety and wellbeing. At facebook, he served as director of engineering for protect and care and a specific team at facebook from 2009 to 2000 10. He reported and came back as a consultant to help instagrams wellbeing team from 2019 to 21. He is also a parent of a courageous and young woman who spoke up about her experiences online. Bejar , i will administer the oath. If you would stand, please. He swore that the testimony you will get to the committee is the truth, whole truth and nothing but the truth so help me god . I do. Thank you. Go ahead. Chairman blumenthal, Ranking Member hawley and members of the subcommittee, thank you for the opportunity to appear before you and for your interest in addressing the most one of the most urgent threats to our children today. American children and children everywhere. My name is arturo bejar. I appear before you today as a father with firsthand experience of a child who received unwanted sexual advances on instagram as an expert with over 20 years of experience working as a leader, including leading Online Security for safety and protection at facebook. It is unacceptable that a 13yearold girl gets propositioned on social media. Unfortunately, it happens too frequently today. From a survey in 2021, we found one in eight kids 13 to 15 years old experienced unwanted advances in the last seven days. This is unacceptable and my work has shown that it doesnt need to be this way. Starting in 2009, i was the engineering and product leader for facebooks efforts to reduce online threats to both children and adults. I met regularly with senior executives, including Mark Zuckerberg. They were supportive of the work. As a parent, i took the work personally and i work hard to help create a safe environment. By the time i looked in 2015, and thought it was going in the right direction. A few years later, my 14year old daughter joined instagram that she and her friends began having awful experiences, including repeated unwanted sexual advances, harassment. She reported the incidents to the company and it did nothing. That is in large part because of what i learned as her father. I returned to facebook and this time as a consultant with instagrams wellbeing team. We tried to set goals based on the experiences of teenagers themselves. Instead, the company wanted to focus on enforcing its own narrowly defined policies. Regardless of whether the approach produced hard that teenagers were experiencing, i discovered that most of them were kids that we put in place during my earlier time at facebook. I observed the new features being developed in response to public outcry, which were in reality a placebo and safety feature in name only. I say this because rather than being based on User Experience data, they were based on very deliberately narrow definitions of harm. The company was creating its own homework. For example, instagram knows when a kid spends a significant amount of time looking at harmful content and content that they are recommending. Meta must be held accountable for the recommendations and unwanted sexual advances that instagram enables. As soon as they understood the skin , i did what i had always done but i researched the problem and informed Mark Zuckerberg , Sheryl Sandberg an