Ex-Meta employee says his warnings of Instagram’s harm to teens were ignored

Arturo Bejar told Congress that he saw first-hand how the social media giant was not protecting his child from harassment

On the same day whistleblower Frances Haugen was testifying before Congress about the harms of Facebook and Instagram to children in the fall of 2021, a former engineering director at the social media giant who had rejoined the company as a consultant sent an alarming email to Mark Zuckerberg about the same topic.

Arturo Bejar, known for his expertise on curbing online harassment, recounted to the Meta CEO of his own daughter's troubling experiences with Instagram. But he said his concerns and warnings went unheeded. And on Tuesday, it was Bejar's turn to testify to Congress.