Senators ask Meta why it waited so long to make teen accounts private by default

A group of senators has written a letter to Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg asking why his company delayed launching key protections for users under 18. The letter, signed by Brian Schatz (D-HI), Katie Britt (R-AL), Amy Klobuchar (D-MN), James Lankford (R-OK), and Christopher Coons (D-DE), cites court documents unsealed late last year that revealed claims that Meta may have downplayed its platforms’ harm in favor of increasing user engagement.

Meta started automatically putting teens on Instagram into private and more restrictive accounts in September 2024, before extending the protections to Facebook and Messenger last year. But an unredacted court document filed as part of a nationwide social media child safety lawsuit alleges that Meta considered making all teen accounts private in 2019, but reportedly decided against the plan after finding it would “likely smash engagement.”

In the letter, the senators press Zuckerberg for more information about why Meta “delayed” launching its private-by-default feature for teens, as well as which teams were involved in the decision. The letter also questions Meta about some of the other accusations laid out in the court document, including whether Meta ever “halted” research or studies into its user well-being and its platforms if they produced undesirable outcomes, as suggested in the filing.

“We are deeply concerned by allegations that Meta was not only aware of these risks, but may have delayed product design changes or prevented public disclosure of these findings,” the letter states.

The senators also want more information about Meta’s policies for taking down child sexual abuse material (CSAM) and content about sex trafficking after the unredacted court document revealed testimony from the company’s former head of safety and well-being, who claimed Meta would only suspend someone’s account after they incurred 17 violations “for prostitution and solicitation.” The senators are giving Meta until March 6th to respond to their questions.