Meta preys on insecure teens, whistleblower says

The owner of Facebook and Instagram is allegedly targeting vulnerable teenagers with a barrage of advertisements based on their emotional state, igniting harm, a US Senate inquiry hears.

Sarah Wynn-Williams, former director of global public policy at Facebook, is sworn in before testifying during a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing.

Facebook owner Meta is “kicking kids when they’re down”, targeting vulnerable teenagers with a barrage of advertisements based on their emotional state that ignites harm, including suicide, eating disorders and depression, a US Senate inquiry has heard.

The Australian originally revealed the tactics the $US1.48 trillion ($2.41 trillion) company used to monetise the mental health struggles of children as young as 13.

Whistleblower Sarah Wynn-Williams outlined further disturbing details of Meta’s strategy on Thursday morning before a US Senate Judiciary Committee.

Her testimony comes as Meta has accused the Australian government of “rushing” to enforce a social media ban on children under 16 years “while failing to properly consider the evidence” and it and other social media behemoths already “ensure age appropriate experiences”.

But Ms Wynn-Williams – who Meta has repeatedly threatened, including obtaining a gag order and warning it will fine her $US50,000 for each disparaging comment she makes about the company – says its chief executive Mark Zuckerberg cannot be trusted.

What’s more, she said some of Meta’s own senior executives barred their children from using it products – swapping screens for wooden Montessori toys – because they knew how harmful their products were.

“I have a lot of questions from Mark Zuckerberg. But he has proven time and time again that you cannot believe his answers. He’s lied to members of Congress, he’s lied to his employees, and he’s lied to Americans, and that’s why I’m asking this committee to hold them accountable,” Ms Wynn-Williams told Senate Judiciary Committee.

“This is not a company that looks after users particularly those 13 to 17 which they regard as a vulnerable, yet very valuable.”

Ms Wynn-Williams – a former director of global public policy at Facebook, which rebranded itself Meta in 2021 – published a memoir earlier this year which alleged that the company also undermined national security.

This included briefing China on its artificial intelligence developments as early as 2015, giving Beijing the leg up to create its own low-cost model DeepSeek, as well as sharing American user data with the Communist Party and building censorship tools for the authoritarian regime.

But she said one of the hardest things to reconcile was the way Meta targeted children.

Sarah Wynn-Williams testifies before the Senate Judiciary Subcommittee on Crime and Counter-terrorism on Capitol Hill.

The Australian revealed in May 2017 that Meta was using sophisticated algorithms to identify and exploit Australian children, by allowing advertisers to target them at their most vulnerable, including when they feel “worthless” and “insecure”, secret internal documents ­reveal.

Ms Wynn Williams said on early Thursday morning (Australian time) that Meta could identify when a child was “feeling worthless or helpless or like a failure”.

“They will take that information and share it with advertisers. One of the things about advertising is advertisers understand that when people don’t feel good about themselves, it’s often a good time to pitch a product, you know, people are more likely to buy something.

“And so what the company was doing was letting these advertisers know that these 13 to 17 year olds were feeling depressed and saying, now’s a really good time to serve them an advertisement. Or if a 13 year old girl would delete a selfie, that’s a really good time to try and sell her a beauty product.

“Things that often do concern teen girls, like body confidence, that’s something else that they use to target – weight loss, or other things on children really, 13 to 17 year olds.”

This despite the Australian Code for Advertising & Marketing Communications to Children, stating that a “child must obtain a parent or guardian’s express consent prior to engaging in any activity that will result in the collection or disclosure of … personal information.”

Ms Wynn-Williams – who left the company in 2017 – said she raised her concerns with senior executives at Meta.

“One of the discussions I had with one of the business leaders was like, we just don’t need to do this. Meta is now a trillion dollar company. It is not short of money. It doesn’t need to do this.

“And what he explained to me is like, you know, ‘we’ve got the most valuable segment of the population. You know, advertisers really want to reach 13 to 17 year olds, and we have them. We should be trumpeting it’. It’s really just extraordinary.”

Senator Marsha Blackburn described the practice as “cruel”.

“I’m a mom and a grandmom, and to kick a kid when they’re down – that, in essence, is what it is, kicking them while they’re down – that is completely disgusting.”

Mark Zuckerberg’s Meta was ‘willing to give away American user data, but they were also trying to find out a way to make a buck on Americans, teenagers, children in times of distress’.

And Ms Wynn-Williams said senior Meta executives knew the harm it was causing children.

“That was one of the things that shocked me when I moved to Silicon Valley. It’s a place full of wooden Montessori toys. Executives would always speak about how they have screen bans in the house. I would say, ‘oh, has your team used the new product we’re about to launch?’ And they’re like, ‘my teenagers not allowed on Facebook. I don’t have my teenager on Instagram’.

“Like these executives. They know. They know the harm that this product does. They don’t allow their own teenagers to use the products of Meta developments. It’s hypocrisy is at every level.”

Ms Wynn-Williams also told senators that Meta was able to track the activities of children across their smartphones – not just on Meta apps.

“it is unfathomable. It’s very, very hard to wrap your mind around the amount of data that this company has on each person who logs on to its service. It’s, you know, private messages, but so much data.

“The key thing that Meta is obsessed with is engagement. Is keeping people’s attention on the services that Meta owns for as long as possible, using whatever tools it can.

“This company wants is to dominate as much time and attention as it can of every you know, not just in this country, as many billions as they can.”

Senator Josh Hawley called on Mark Zuckerberg to stop threatening whistleblowers.

Senate Judiciary Committee chair Josh Hawley said Meta was “willing to give away American user data, but they were also trying to find out a way to make a buck on Americans, teenagers, children in times of distress”.

Senator Hawley – a Republican and former attorney general of Missouri – slammed Meta’s attempts to gag Ms Wynn-Williams and prevent her testifying before the committee.

“It is one of the most powerful companies in the history of the world, and they have stopped at absolutely nothing to prevent today’s testimony,” he said.

“They have gone scorched earth to prevent her from telling what she knows. They’ve sued her. They have sought a gag order against her. They are attempting to destroy her personally. They are attempting to destroy her reputation. And I think the question is, why? Why is it that Facebook is so desperate to prevent this witness telling what she knows?

“Sarah Wynn Williams knows the truth about Facebook. That’s what they fear. She knows, while Mark Zuckerberg now claims to be a champion of the United States and claims to be a free speech warrior, in fact, worked hand in glove with the Chinese Communist Party for years. He in fact developed censorship tools for the Chinese Communist Party to use against its own people. He in fact made Americans own user data available, willing to make it available to Beijing. The truth is, Facebook and Mark Zuckerberg have lied to the American people repeatedly. It’s time for this to stop.”

Senator Hawley called on Mr Zuckerberg to front the inquiry.

“Stop threatening other whistleblowers. Come to this committee. Take the oath, sit there. Let us question you and give the American people the truth. We will be waiting for you.”

Originally published as Meta preys on insecure teens, whistleblower says