According to reports by the Washington Post, Meta, the parent company of Facebook and Instagram, has allegedly suppressed internal research on the dangers of Virtual Reality (VR) platforms for children.

Documents submitted to Congress indicate that Meta’s legal team pressured employees to minimize or even eliminate findings that revealed children might be vulnerable to harassment and predators in the company’s VR environments. Two whistleblowers mentioned that the legal department intentionally steered the research to downplay potential harms associated with the products.

One exchange from 2023 showed that kids expressed concerns about regulations, while legal counsel recommended avoiding data collection that confirmed children were indeed using VR devices. Another memo urged researchers to rephrase their questions to prevent participants from discussing “sensitive” experiences that could expose the company to legal trouble.

In one instance, a mother reportedly told Meta researchers that she forbade her children from talking to strangers in VR, but her teenage son pointed out that an adult had repeatedly proposed interacting with his younger brother. Researchers claimed their supervisor instructed them to remove comments about this from both recordings and notes.

Jason Satisarne, one researcher involved, stated in a sworn affidavit that he was fired in April 2024 after conflicts over research limitations. Another researcher who also focused on VR left the company that year due to ethical concerns.

These employees and some current staff provided extensive internal documents to lawmakers in May, and Satisarne, along with another former Meta employee, is expected to testify before a Senate committee about Meta’s alleged suppression of child safety research.

Documents reveal that, despite publicly stated policies, Meta staff were concerned about the high number of minors using Oculus VR headsets. Back in 2017, employees discussed what they referred to as “children’s issues,” estimating that 80% to 90% of users in certain VR spaces were minors.

In 2021, former Meta product manager Frances Haugen disclosed internal research indicating that the company knew their platforms posed risks to children, raising significant scrutiny and leading to hearings. At that time, Mark Zuckerberg faced criticism, as disclosures were said to misrepresent the company’s practices.

Meta has not publicly commented on these latest allegations from the Daily Caller News Foundation.

Republican Senator Marsha Blackburn from Tennessee responded to the reports by stating that these allegations would surely alarm parents. Blackburn highlighted the importance of reviewing the Privacy, Technology, and Law Committee’s work.

Blackburn and other Republican members of the Judiciary Committee requested responses regarding potential violations of child privacy laws after failing to receive an adequate reply from Zuckerberg concerning a previous letter about “children’s emotional targeting.”

Meta maintains that the safety of children is a priority and has denied the whistleblower claims. A company spokesperson stated that the allegations of suppressed research are based on fragmented instances that create a misleading story, asserting that there is no blanket prohibition against researching individuals under 13 years of age.

“We support the research team’s valuable work and are disheartened by these misrepresentations,” the spokesperson added.