Arturo Béjar

Who Arturo Béjar is

Arturo Béjar is a former Director of Engineering for Facebook's 'Protect and Care' team, where he led the company's user-safety efforts from 2009 to 2015, including work on cyberbullying, child safety, and suicidal ideation. He returned to Meta as an independent consultant to Instagram's wellbeing team from 2019 to 2021, and in 2022 served as a Technical Advisor to the Facebook Oversight Board. After first disclosing concerns to Meta's most senior executives — including CEO Mark Zuckerberg — without receiving a meaningful response, he became a prominent whistleblower on social media harm to children and teenagers. He testified before the US Senate Judiciary Subcommittee on Privacy, Technology, and the Law in November 2023, presenting internal Meta data on the prevalence of unwanted sexual advances and other harms experienced by adolescents on Instagram and Facebook. Since leaving Meta he has engaged with regulators and lawmakers on a pro bono basis, arguing that social media companies must be compelled by law to measure and publicly report harms as experienced by users, not defined narrowly by platforms.

References for this biography

1. 1.Transcript: Senate Hearing on Social Media and Teen Mental Health with Former Facebook Engineer Arturo Bejar – Tech Policy Press — Establishes Béjar's title as former Director of Engineering for Protect and Care at Facebook, the substance of his November 2023 Senate testimony, and his role as a whistleblower and safety advocate.
2. 2.Written Testimony of Arturo Bejar before the Senate Subcommittee on Privacy, Technology, and the Law — Establishes his full career history including Yahoo! (1998–2009), Facebook (2009–2015), Instagram consultant (2019–2021), Facebook Oversight Board Technical Advisor (2022), and details of his role leading Site Integrity, Security Infrastructure, and Care teams.
3. 3.Arturo Béjar – Family Online Safety Institute — Confirms Béjar was the engineering and product leader at Facebook responsible for user safety from 2009 to 2015, including starting the Protect and Care team.
4. 4.Meta whistleblower Arturo Béjar testifies at child safety trial – Quartz — Confirms Béjar's testimony in the 2026 federal child safety trial, his 'don't ask, don't tell' allegation, and establishes his ongoing public role as a whistleblower.
5. 5.Arturo Béjar – Personal website — Confirms his pro bono independent advisory role, press contact method, and engagement with regulators, lawmakers, and academics on online safety.
6. 6.Evaluating Instagram's Promises to Protect Teens – Tech Policy Press — Confirms Béjar co-authored the report 'Teen Accounts, Broken Promises' with Cybersecurity for Democracy and other organisations, and his self-description as 'former director of Protect and Care at Facebook and whistleblower and safety advocate'.
7. 7.Arturo Béjar on LinkedIn — Identifies the correct LinkedIn profile for Arturo Béjar (the Meta whistleblower), with the self-description 'Formerly the leader for Integrity and Care Facebook, now helping regulators and lawmakers'.
8. 8.BBC Facebook post – Arturo Béjar speaks on social media experience — Confirms Béjar has been quoted/featured by UK broadcaster BBC in coverage of social media and child safety.

Notable achievements

• Founded Facebook's 'Protect and Care' engineering team (2009–2015), responsible for child safety tools, anti-cyberbullying features, and site integrity at Facebook. Source ↗
• Testified before the US Senate Judiciary Subcommittee on Privacy, Technology, and the Law (November 2023) on Meta's knowledge of, and failure to act on, harms to children and teenagers on its platforms. Source ↗
• Served as Technical Advisor to the Facebook Oversight Board in 2022, and was recruited from Yahoo!, where he served as the company's first security engineer and head of Information Security. Source ↗
• Co-authored the report 'Teen Accounts, Broken Promises: How Instagram is Failing to Protect Minors' alongside Cybersecurity for Democracy, Fairplay, Molly Rose Foundation, ParentsSOS, and Heat Initiative. Source ↗
• Testified in the landmark multi-state child safety trial against Meta in Oakland, California (August 2026), alleging the company operated a 'don't ask, don't tell' policy on child safety. Source ↗

What Arturo Béjar has said

• “They knew that harm to kids was happening, but they were telling the world it wasn't.”

  former Meta safety engineer · Mental health · 29 Sept 2026 · An $18bn settlement – and Zuckerberg barely blinked. The tech titans must be stripped of their power, and soon | Jonathan Freedland ↗

• “I've spoken to parents from several countries, and I have yet to meet a parent of young kids who is not dreading when they're old enough to go online. Or a young person who has not experienced something awful and preventable.”

  Former senior engineer and consultant at Meta · Children's health · 10 Sept 2026 · ‘Tech firms are losing the public’: social media age bans near tipping point ↗

• “Because of Meta's lack of transparency, who knows how long this has been the case, and how many teens have experienced harm in the hands of Instagram as a result of Meta's negligence and misleading promises of safety, which create a false and dangerous sense of security.”

  former senior engineer at Meta · Mental health · 27 Aug 2026 · Instagram still poses risk to children despite new safety tools, says Meta whistleblower ↗

• “I felt that he created a false and misleading impression of Facebook's commitment to young people.”

  former Meta safety engineer · Mental health · 27 Aug 2026 · Zuckerberg lied about concern for child safety, Meta whistleblower testifies at landmark trial ↗

Where Arturo Béjar has been quoted

1. Key witness in Meta trial says terms of settlement insufficient to halt apps’ harms to teenagerstheguardian.com · 29 Sept 2026
2. An $18bn settlement – and Zuckerberg barely blinked. The tech titans must be stripped of their power, and soon | Jonathan Freedlandtheguardian.com · 29 Sept 2026
3. ‘Tech firms are losing the public’: social media age bans near tipping pointtheguardian.com · 10 Sept 2026
4. Instagram still poses risk to children despite new safety tools, says Meta whistleblowertheguardian.com · 27 Aug 2026
5. Zuckerberg lied about concern for child safety, Meta whistleblower testifies at landmark trialtheguardian.com · 27 Aug 2026

Related media coverage

Recent UK press coverage of their topics — not necessarily citing them directly.

• Norwich City teams up with The Royal Foundation to support suicide preventionNorwich City Football Club
• One Year On: How The Royal Foundation is strengthening suicide prevention support in the UKRoyal Foundation
• Licensable picture: The American Foundation for Suicide Prevention hosted its annual Out of the Darkness Walk on Oct. 10 in Staunton's Gypsy HillReuters Connect

Contact & links

• Websitehttps://www.arturobejar.org
• LinkedInhttps://www.linkedin.com/in/arturo-b%C3%A9jarpublished here ↗

Organisational contact points only, each taken from a page the organisation publishes itself. No personal or direct contact details are held or shown.