Meta ignored child sex abuse in VR, say whistleblowers

Two former Meta employees testified at a Senate hearing this week, accusing the company of downplaying child abuse dangers in its VR environment. The whistleblowers say they were instructed to limit how data on harm was collected, with internal work groups locked down and researchers told to erase evidence that might prove dangers in Meta’s metaverse.

According to the US Senate Judiciary Subcommittee on Privacy, Technology and the Law, Meta allegedly altered research designs to preserve plausible deniability and even asked researchers to delete data showing harm to kids in VR. The witnesses described cases where underage users in Germany faced demands for sex acts and nude images, and claimed Meta tried to suppress such findings to protect engagement metrics.

They also cited a case linking a virtual strip club in Roblox to pay for strip performances by underage users, which Savage said Meta should have blocked. The article notes earlier warnings in 2023 and 2021 about sexual risks to young users and states Meta’s response to dismiss these claims as “nonsense.”