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The Guardian - US
The Guardian - US
Technology
Nick Robins-Early

Key witness in Meta trial says terms of settlement insufficient to halt apps’ harms to teenagers

A man wearing a suit and holding a satchel walking.
Arturo Béar, a former Meta engineer, leaves the courthouse in Oakland, California, on 19 August 2026. Photograph: Karl Mondon/AFP/Getty Images

The star witness in the US government’s landmark trial against Meta believes that a multibillion-dollar settlement reached on Wednesday does not go far enough to stop the social media giant’s harms to young users.

“The limitations that are in the agreement are the equivalent of saying: ‘Well, you can smoke as many cigarettes as you can in two hours a day,’” said whistleblower and ex-Facebook employee Arturo Béjar. “It doesn’t make the cigarettes any safer.”

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