Meta Suppressed Research on Kids in VR

The Washington Post and whistleblowers reveal the lengths Meta went to cover up risks to children, because they were risks to profit

This morning, Naomi Nix and Jon Swaine at The Washington Post published an investigation confirming what I haven’t stopped making noise about: Meta knew kids were in Horizon Worlds, knew they were at risk, and chose legal strategy over child safety.

The reporting describes internal documents and first-hand accounts from four current and former Meta researchers. Together, they allege that Meta’s lawyers deleted evidence, shut down projects, and told researchers to avoid collecting information that might reveal children under 13 using VR headsets. Instead of fixing the problem, the company’s legal team tried to create “plausible deniability.”

Some of the most serious allegations include:

• Evidence deleted: In Germany, a boy under 10 described being sexually propositioned by adults in VR. Researchers say their boss ordered the recording and notes erased. The official report mentioned parents’ fears of grooming but excluded the child’s disclosure.

• Lawyers filtering research: After the 2021 Haugen leaks, Meta’s legal team began screening VR safety research. Guidance told staff not to collect or document under-13 data, to frame findings carefully, and to run sensitive work under attorney-client privilege.

• Research canceled: “Project Horton,” a $1 million study on verifying users’ ages, was approved then suddenly canceled at the end of 2022 after legal review.

• Pressure to reframe data: Lawyers advised staff to avoid questions likely to elicit “negative experiences or safety concerns,” and even to describe kids as “alleged youth” rather than acknowledging their presence.

• Employee pushback and retaliation: Research staff say they were fired, pressured to quit, or forced into silence. Two remain at Meta and gave documents to Congress anonymously for fear of retaliation.

• FTC and “Project Salsa”: After a 2022 FTC demand, Meta scrambled to launch tween accounts (ages 10–12). Internal decks admitted this didn’t solve the fact that under-10s were also on the platform.

• Widespread age misrepresentation: When asked to reconfirm their birthdays, only 41% of users gave the same answer — showing how easy it is for kids to bypass age checks.

I appear briefly in the article as well. In October 2022, I was the Director of Product Marketing over Horizon and joined other executives testing Horizon Worlds. We couldn’t hear one another over the voices of young children. To continue testing, the solution was to move our meetings into closed spaces—away from kids. From The Washington Post:

In October 2022, senior executives in Meta’s VR division witnessed that children were using their products, according to Kelly Stonelake, a former director of product marketing.

Stonelake and the executives were attempting to test Horizon Worlds. As they roamed a 3D amusement park using VR headsets, they struggled to hear one another above the screams of high-pitched voices that sounded like young children, Stonelake told The Post.

To avoid the “distraction of the kids,” the group simply moved its subsequent meetings to “closed” spaces in Horizon Worlds, where they could not be interrupted, Stonelake said. She first shared her account earlier this year as part of a complaint to the FTC alleging that Meta was knowingly allowing underage children on its app. She has also filed a separate lawsuit against Meta alleging sex discrimination and is not part of the group that recently submitted documents to Congress. Her lawsuit is ongoing and Meta has challenged her allegations in court.

(Yehyun Kim/For The Washington Post)

Like these researchers, I also experienced being told directly to avoid documenting anything related to children that created legal exposure to Meta.

I declined severance, filed a lawsuit, and have since become a broken record about Meta’s behavior to choose profit over people because risks to kids on these platforms aren’t hypothetical. The Washington Post investigation revealed examples where kids have been harmed after meeting adults through Meta’s headsets:

• In Michigan, a 48-year-old sex offender used Meta’s headset to meet a 9-year-old girl. He asked for explicit photos and invited her to his home. He was later sentenced to 35 years in prison.

• In Utah, a 25-year-old man abducted a 13-year-old girl after meeting her through a Meta headset chat feature. He touched her and solicited sex. He pled guilty and is serving a 10-year sentence.

This reporting, these researchers’ accounts, Fairplay’s research, testimony from myself and other whistleblowers, combined with the documents now in the public record, give lawmakers a chance to cut through Meta’s deflection and smokescreens.

I hope this is an inflection point—tomorrow, the Senate is holding a hearing about buried child safety research at Meta.

Regulators and legislators have heard for years that children are being put at risk in Meta’s virtual reality products. Now, the evidence is being laid out in a way that cannot be deleted, reframed, or buried by lawyers. How Congress chooses to act based on this evidence will say a lot about whether our institutions are willing to hold powerful companies accountable when children’s safety is on the line.

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