Blumenthal Joins Bipartisan Colleagues in Demanding Answers from Meta Following Bombshell Whistleblower Allegations

[Hartford, CT]—U.S Senator Richard Blumenthal today joined a bipartisan group of colleagues led by U.S. Senator Marsha Blackburn (R-Tenn.) in demanding Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg provide all internal research regarding the safety risks and prevalence of users under the age of 13 on its platforms, its policies and procedures to review research proposals and reports of child exploitation, and the use and effectiveness of parental tools. This follows the explosive hearing Blumenthal joined last week, where whistleblowers testified that Meta buried child safety research.

“On September 8th, 2025, six whistleblowers focused on youth wellbeing and other safety issues went public with allegations that Meta had censored, blocked, and even required the deletion of research into the prevalence and underlying causes of harms to young people on its platforms, including within its Reality Labs (virtual reality) division. According to documents provided to our offices, Meta has straightjacketed its staff under a ‘Social Issues Protocol’ that requires advanced and additional review of research that covers matters such as human trafficking, suicide, eating disorders, bullying, and child trafficking. In practice, those researchers found that Meta installed monitors from their legal department that routinely altered, blocked, and shutdown work on teen safety, limited internal access to information, circumvented normal review processes, used attorney-client privilege to conceal research, and even required the destruction of data,” the senators wrote.

Meta Rushed to Market Virtual Reality Products to Children Despite Safety Concerns

“The whistleblowers’ allegations focus on Meta’s near-obsessive attempts to push its virtual reality products from Reality Labs onto young teens and even children, demonstrating that its ‘move fast and break things’ motto still sacrifices the wellbeing of young people in favor of profit. By 2022, Meta executives, tasked with increasing engagement, had made the decision to expand access to its VR headsets (Quest) to children (10-13, an effort dubbed ‘Project Salsa’) and open access to teens for its VR social media platform (Horizon Worlds). According to the whistleblowers, this decision happened before any meaningful research on the potential dangers had occurred (beyond mere studies on the physical safety of wearing the headset) and despite deep concerns from internal experts that VR might be inherently more dangerous than already dangerous and harmful traditional social media products,” the Senators continue.

Whistleblowers Say Meta Turned a Blind Eye to Reports of Rampant Abuse Against Children in Virtual Reality

“Blocked by Meta legal staff from much-needed, direct research on the prevalence and impact of virtual reality and potential harms to children, the whistleblowers sought to gather data from outside traditional channels. What they learned was alarming, finding stories and reports of: rampant bullying within VR (Children bullying adults; adults bullying children; children bullying other children.); children experiencing and participating in hate speech (i.e. users saying ‘Your [sic] black you have no rights’); pedophilic acts, including adults virtually simulating child rape (i.e. users saying ‘Thanks meta for making this the pedophile kingdom’); children sharing personally identifying information with strangers (i.e. home address); grooming; children willingly simulating sexual acts with each other and with adults; children being exposed to adult culture, including drugs, violence, and vulgar language,” the Senators write.

Meta Misrepresents Effectiveness of Parental Control Tools While Lobbying Congress to Block Legislation to Protect Children

“Instead, Meta executives—according to the whistleblowers—believed that responsibility for protecting young users should fall solely onto parents and other VR app developers. This decision was made despite Meta knowing their parental control tools were often ineffective and unused. Meta’s own researchers found that parents were not aware of their existence. On Instagram, in one survey that 2% of parents had turned them on,” the Senators write.

The letter is signed by Senators Marsha Blackburn (R-Tenn.), Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.), Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa), Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.), Ashley Moody (R-Fla.), Dick Durbin (D-Ill.), Josh Hawley (R-Mo.), Chris Coons (D-Del.), Bill Cassidy, M.D. (R-La.), and Ed Markey (D-Mass.).

Click here to read the full letter.

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