Two former Meta safety researchers told a U.S. Senate committee on Tuesday that the company concealed potential harms to children linked to its virtual reality products and sought to stifle internal research that could have revealed those risks.
Jason Sattizahn and Cayce Savage, who once led research on youth experiences in Meta's VR products, told senators that the company directed researchers to erase evidence of sexual-abuse risk on its platforms and discouraged work that might produce findings of harm to children. The testimony followed a Washington Post report the day before that detailed their allegations and said Meta lawyers had intervened in internal research.
Meta denied the allegations. In a statement released ahead of the hearing, the company said the claims were based on "selectively leaked internal documents that were picked specifically to craft a false narrative" and dismissed the key assertions as "nonsense." Meta said there were no bans or limits on carrying out research and pointed to approval of nearly 180 Reality Labs–related studies in recent years on issues including youth safety and well-being.
Sattizahn, who worked at Meta from 2018 until 2024, told the committee that Meta's public response was "a lie by avoidance," and that the company was "pruning and manipulating" research. He and Savage said they identified specific risks in internal work that were not sufficiently acted upon by the company.
During an exchange with Sen. Josh Hawley, R-Mo., Savage said her research found that the online game platform Roblox, popular with children, was being exploited by coordinated sexual predators who created virtual strip clubs and used Roblox's virtual currency to pay children. Savage told the committee she flagged the issue and urged Meta not to host Roblox on its headsets; Roblox remains available in the Meta VR app store. Roblox said it "strongly disagreed" with the allegations and described them as "based on ill-informed and outdated information," saying safety is a top priority and that it operates 24/7 moderation and responds to abuse reports.
Meta offers parental supervision tools for its Quest headsets and in its Horizon Worlds environment that allow parents to adjust safety settings and monitor follow relationships. Florida Attorney General Ashley Moody, who has sued Meta in the past over alleged harms to children, told the former researchers she had trouble locating the parental controls and asked whether that was a widespread problem. Both Sattizahn and Savage said it was not surprising.
Sattizahn and Savage are the latest former employees to raise concerns about Meta's handling of research into youth safety. In 2021, former product manager Frances Haugen disclosed internal documents and testified that Instagram and other Meta products harmed teenagers, prompting additional congressional scrutiny. Meta founder and CEO Mark Zuckerberg has repeatedly denied that the company prioritizes profit over safety; during a Senate hearing last year he apologized to families who said their loved ones were harmed by the company's products.
The whistleblowers and the committee did not present evidence at the hearing that Meta had intentionally broken the law. The hearing focused on internal company practices, how research was reviewed and edited, and whether management decisions prevented potentially damaging findings from reaching senior executives or the public.
Meta told the committee it has processes for reviewing and approving research and that many Reality Labs studies have been completed. The company also emphasized investments in safety tools and moderation, and reiterated that it has mechanisms for researchers to raise concerns.
Senators on both sides of the aisle have increased scrutiny of major technology companies over the past several years, with particular focus on how platforms affect children and adolescents. The testimony on Tuesday adds to an ongoing congressional and public debate about the responsibilities of social media and tech companies, and how internal research should be handled and disclosed when it pertains to user safety.