Social media safety tools were ‘designed to fail,’ former Meta engineer testifies

In a trial pitting California, Colorado, Kentucky and New Jersey against Meta over teen mental health harms, former engineer Arturo Bejar testified that features like popularity counters, infinite scroll, and autoplay were designed to maximize engagement and ad revenue rather than protect young users. He said Meta's 'take a break' safety tool was 'designed to fail' because it was off by default and easily dismissed, and that pausing notifications required navigating '10 different screens and 50 toggle buttons.'

Bejar testified he stopped believing Mark Zuckerberg's public statements that products were 'designed with mental health and well-being in mind,' and said a 2021 email laying out his concerns to Zuckerberg went unanswered. Meta's attorney countered by noting Bejar never reduced teen harm to zero and highlighting other staff who continued youth-safety work. Judge Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers clarified the case turns not on platform content but on whether Meta lied about the addictiveness of its features; penalties could reach $200 billion.

The full dispatch is available from the source below.