The Tool Desk
Outbyte PC Repair FREEClear out junk files and repair common Windows errorsFree Scan →Outbyte Driver Updater FREEFix the driver behind crashes, sound loss and screen glitchesFind Drivers →Arturo Béjar, a former Facebook safety leader who later returned to Meta as an Instagram consultant, became a public critic of the company after a 2021 warning to senior executives and his 2023 testimony to the U.S. Senate. In a Guardian interview published on October 8, 2026, he tied that decision to his daughter’s experiences on Instagram and to what he describes as a gap between how Meta measured harm and how users actually experienced it. The headline line, “I don’t recall Mark ever being empathetic,” is his recollection of Mark Zuckerberg, not an established finding about the company.
How Béjar’s account of leaving Meta is built
Béjar’s account, as told to Steve Rose in the Guardian interview, rests on four strands: his earlier safety work at Facebook, his return to Instagram as a consultant, what his daughter reported to him about her time on the app, and a 2021 email he sent to Zuckerberg and other senior executives. The 2023 Senate testimony is the point where he took those concerns to a public, official forum. Each strand comes from a different kind of source, so it helps to read them separately.
As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases.
Béjar’s work at Facebook and Instagram
Béjar says he worked at Facebook from 2009 to 2015 as a senior engineering and product leader responsible for safety and user support, including work in the Protect & Care group. He returned as an Instagram consultant from 2019 to 2021. By his count, and as the interview reports it, he had worked at Facebook for eight years in total by October 2021. These are his descriptions of his own roles; the interview and his testimony do not include Meta’s internal role records, so the titles and responsibilities here are his account.
What his daughter reported
The interview says that around 2018, when his daughter was in her early teens, she told him she and her friends were receiving sexist comments and unsolicited nude images on Instagram. She also told him that reporting them did not lead to meaningful action, and the Guardian reports that she saw little point in reporting them. These are her experiences as Béjar and the journalist relay them. Béjar’s Senate testimony describes the same situation from his perspective as a parent whose child received unwanted sexual advances on Instagram.
#1 Best Overall
The October 2021 email
On October 5, 2021, Béjar emailed Zuckerberg and other senior Facebook executives. He wrote of what he called “a critical gap in how we as a company approach harm, and how the people we serve experience it.” According to the Guardian, the email included survey findings and asked for a change in how the company responded to harms users experienced. The Guardian reports that Zuckerberg did not reply.
The survey figures Béjar cites
The interview reports figures from a survey run by Béjar’s team and communicated to executives in 2021. They are the central numbers behind his argument that user-reported harm was far higher than conventional platform measures suggested.
Rank #2
| Measure | Figure | Population and period | Source and status |
|---|---|---|---|
| Bad or harmful experience | 51% | Instagram users surveyed; previous seven days | Béjar’s team survey, as reported by The Guardian (2026) |
| Reported that experience | 1% | Those who reported a bad or harmful experience | Béjar’s team survey, as reported by The Guardian (2026) |
| Reports leading to removal | 2% of reports (described by the Guardian as 0.02% of surveyed users) | Submitted reports | Béjar’s team survey, as reported by The Guardian (2026) |
| Unwanted advances | 24.4% | 13–15-year-olds surveyed; previous seven days | Béjar’s team survey, as reported by The Guardian (2026) |
| Bullying | 21.8% | 13–15-year-olds surveyed; previous seven days | Béjar’s team survey, as reported by The Guardian (2026) |
These are the survey’s results as Béjar presents them. The sources reviewed for this article do not independently validate the survey’s sampling or method, so the percentages should not be read as estimates for all Instagram users or all teenagers.
The Senate testimony
Béjar gave written and oral testimony on November 7, 2023, before the Senate Judiciary Subcommittee on Privacy, Technology, and the Law. The official hearing title is “Social Media and the Teen Mental Health Crisis.” The transcript confirms that he appeared and submitted testimony. It records what he told the committee; it is not a finding that his claims are accurate.
In November 2023, Senators Richard Blumenthal and Marsha Blackburn wrote a letter that discussed his testimony and asked Meta for internal records. Statements in that letter about what Meta knew and how it responded are the senators’ allegations and position, not a court judgment.
Béjar on Mark Zuckerberg
The headline condenses a longer answer in which Béjar describes Zuckerberg’s approach to decisions. In the interview he says:
- “I don’t recall him ever being empathetic to the harm that somebody was experiencing and wanting to make that better … The only thing that really consistently came across in all my interactions with him was winning. He’s one of the most fiercely competitive people I know.”
- He recalls Zuckerberg telling him: “I’m not here for fun – I’m here for impact.”
- On how issues were framed: “You couldn’t talk to Mark about, ‘We have to do this thing to prevent suicide because it’s the right thing to do.’ You had to put everything in terms of metrics. That was his language.”
These are Béjar’s personal assessments of a named executive. The sources reviewed contain no on-the-record response from Zuckerberg to these characterizations.
Meta’s response
When AP reported on Béjar’s testimony in 2023, Meta said employees were working on youth safety. It described survey feedback as informing features such as anonymous notifications and comment warnings, and said it had introduced more than 30 tools for teens and families. That is Meta’s public position as reported at the time. It does not resolve Béjar’s criticisms, and it does not answer the specific claims about the 2021 email.
Independent reader supportYour contribution helps us test, update, and keep practical guides available for everyone.Claims, records and recollections
Readers evaluating this story should keep four categories apart:
- Firsthand recollection: Béjar’s account of his roles, his daughter’s experiences, and his conversations with Zuckerberg.
- Reported survey results: the 2021 figures, presented by Béjar and reported by the Guardian in 2026.
- Official procedural record: the November 7, 2023 hearing, the title of the hearing, and Béjar’s submitted testimony.
- Company statement and allegations: Meta’s 2023 response as reported by AP, and the senators’ letter.
The interview also refers to a later trial in California. This article does not report that trial’s outcome, and nothing here should be read as a legal finding on Béjar’s claims.
Timeline
| Date | Event | Source of the account |
|---|---|---|
| 2009–2015 | Béjar works at Facebook in safety and user support roles | Béjar’s account |
| About 2018 | His daughter reports sexist comments and unsolicited nude images on Instagram | Béjar and the Guardian interview |
| 2019–2021 | He returns to Instagram safety work as a consultant | Béjar’s account; AP |
| October 5, 2021 | He emails Zuckerberg and senior executives with survey findings | The Guardian (2026) |
| November 7, 2023 | He testifies before the Senate Judiciary subcommittee | Official hearing record |
| October 8, 2026 | The Guardian publishes Steve Rose’s interview | The Guardian |
What is established and what remains contested
The following points are documented: Béjar held the Facebook and Instagram roles he describes, he sent the 2021 email, he testified in 2023, and Meta responded publicly. The following points rest on his word or on the survey he presents: the content of his daughter’s experiences, the survey figures, his characterization of Zuckerberg, and the claim that Meta’s internal measures missed user-reported harm. No independent source reviewed here establishes Meta’s internal decision-making or adjudicates his testimony.
What’s actually slowing this PC down?
Pick the symptom - the matching free tool is one click away.
Readers who want to check the claims further should start with the Guardian interview, the Senate hearing transcript, and AP’s 2023 coverage of the hearing, and then compare Meta’s own published youth-safety statements from the same period.
Source note: this article relies on the Guardian interview published October 8, 2026, the official Senate Judiciary Subcommittee record for the November 7, 2023 hearing, AP’s 2023 reporting, and the November 2023 senators’ letter. Quotations are from the Guardian interview unless otherwise attributed.
Quick Recap
Product prices and availability are accurate as of the date/time indicated and are subject to change. Any price and availability information displayed on Amazon at the time of purchase will apply.
