On August 19, 2026, Arturo Béjar — a former Meta safety engineer who later consulted for Instagram and has testified before Congress about child safety — took the stand in the 29-state attorney general trial against Meta in Oakland, California. His testimony added a personal, inside-the-company account to the states' allegations that Meta deliberately designed its platforms to keep young users engaged while downplaying known harms.
What Béjar told the jury
According to reporting by the Associated Press, Béjar testified that:
- Internal safety requests reached Mark Zuckerberg. Béjar said he and others asked Zuckerberg to prioritize child safety at Meta. Those requests, he testified, were not acted on.
- Meta publicly touted safety while internally deprioritizing it. Béjar contrasted the company's public statements about protecting teens with what he described as a lack of internal follow-through.
- The company had a "don't ask, don't tell" approach to under-13 users. Béjar testified that Meta had tools that could identify children under 13 on Instagram and Facebook but avoided using them, creating what he called a "don't ask, don't tell" culture.
- His conclusion was blunt. Béjar told jurors: "I feel that you just cannot trust Mark Zuckerberg with kids."
Why this trial matters — and what it is not
The 29-state action is a separate enforcement lawsuit brought by state attorneys general. It is not the federal MDL 3047 docket, where individual families and school districts have filed personal-injury and public-nuisance claims. It is also not the New Mexico state case that produced the roughly $942 million judgment against Meta in August 2026.
The states' trial seeks civil penalties and injunctive relief on behalf of the public. It does not create a claims process or guarantee any recovery for individual families. There is currently no MDL-wide settlement and no public claim form in the federal litigation.
What families should know
For families considering whether to file a claim in MDL 3047, Béjar's testimony is another piece of evidence showing that Meta's internal discussions about child safety were more extensive than public messaging suggested. It does not, by itself, establish liability in any individual case, and it does not change the fact that each claimant must prove their own facts through counsel.
If your teen was harmed by Instagram, Facebook, or another platform, the first step is still a confidential case review with a lawyer who can evaluate the specific facts, the applicable state filing deadline, and whether the case fits the developing litigation.
Source: AP News — "Meta whistleblower testifies Zuckerberg ignored calls to prioritize child safety"
This article is informational only and does not create an attorney-client relationship. No result in the states' trial or any other case guarantees recovery in an individual claim.