Meta Says It Cares About Kids. New Documents Tell a Different Story.

"Even though we know that there is IIC T1 going on (more than 50% of which is sextortion which can lead to suicide) we haven't done anything. we had a broken escalation path and no measurements. God knows what happened to those kids."

"It's very important to me that everything we build is safe and good for kids. The company absolutely does not prioritize profit over safety and well-being."

"For years, the company only incrementally rolled out restrictive safety features, even as its own staff detailed the risks its platforms posed to children."

Meta faced internal divisions between protecting children and maximizing user engagement and growth. While CEO Mark Zuckerberg publicly emphasized child safety in 2021, internal documents reveal the company incrementally rolled out safety features despite staff warnings. A 2020 technical failure prevented Meta from tracking predators during a period when thousands of minors reported severe abuse, including sextortion leading to suicide, extortion, and sex trafficking. Employees documented the crisis in internal communications, expressing concern about unknown outcomes for affected children. Although the technical issue was resolved within weeks, broader protective measures took years longer to implement, revealing a gap between public safety rhetoric and internal operational priorities.

Read at The Atlantic