Meta Whistleblower Sarah Wynn-WilliamsThe Former Director of Global Public Policy for Facebook and Author of the Recently Recently Released Tell-All Book “Careless People,“Told Us Senators during Her Testimony on Wednsday That Meta Activly Targeted Teens with Advertisements Based on his Emotional State.
This claim was first documented by wynn-williams in her book, which documents her time at Facebook and the “Careless” disregard from its top execs, include Sandberg, about the power the tech company wields in the world and its capability to do harm.
Thought the focus of Wednsday’s hearing waste Largely on meta’s dealings with china And how it may have merged its plans in Prior congressional hearings, the senators were also keen to ask about instagram, give that the social app had Been the Subject of Earlier Congress Into Meta’s Harms to Children Back in 2021.
In Response to a Question from Sen. Marsha Blackburn (R-TN), WYNN-Williams Admitted that meta (which was then known as Facebook) Had Targeted 13- To 17-Year-LDS With Ads when they were fed
“It could identify when they were feeling women or helpless or like a failure, and [Meta] would take that information and share it with advertisers, “wynn-williams told the senators on the Subcommittee for Crime and Terrorism Within the judiciary committee. “Advertisers undersrstand that when people don’t feel good about themselves, it’s often a good time to pitch a product – People are more like to buy
She said the company was letting advertisers know when the teens were depressed As an example, she suggested that if a teen girl deleted a selfie, advertisers might They also targeted teens with ads for weight loss when young girls had the Concerns Around Body Confidence, WYNNN-Williams said.
She claimed that meta was aware that users aged 13-17 was a vulnerable but “very valuable” demographicic to advertisers, which was the motive.
In Fact, She Said That One Business Leader at the company even explained to her that facebook was aware that it has the “most valuable segment of the population” for advertisers, teens, teens, said th it meta “Trumpeting it from the rooftops.”
At the time, Wynn-Williams had been suggesting to the exec that a trilion-dollar company was not short on money and didn’t need to go this route to add a little more to it.
If meta was willing to target teens based on their emotional states, it stands to reason they’d do the same to adults. And one document displayed during the hearing showed an example of just that, it turned out.
In a screenshot of an internal chat, a facebook policy director asks if it’s true that Facebook was Doing Research ING MOTHERS and their Emotional State, to which ahead another person representation, ” They may asker “apparently moraly bankrupt colleagues” if there was any other research like this.
Adding a bit more color to her comments, wynn-williams also noted that it had surprised her how many Silicon Valley Executives Didn Bollywood Use The Products The Products The Products.
“I would say, ‘Oh has your teen used the new product we’re about to launch?” “And they’re like, ‘My Teenagers are not allowed on Facebook. I don’t have my teenager on Instagram.’ These experts… they know. The harm this product does.
In a company statement, meta denied the allegations in wynn-williams’ testimony, calling them “divorced from reality and riddled with false claims.”