Old North News

Facebook “whistleblower” Ryan Hartwig said Attorney General Josh Stein's (D-NC) lawsuit against Facebook owner Meta is a “step in the right direction.”

“As someone who moderated content for Facebook and Instagram, I agree that they are inherently harmful for young people,” Hartwig told Grand Canyon Times. “Over the course of 2 years, I reviewed thousands of self harm posts, mainly by teenagers who posted videos of themselves slitting their wrists or promoting anorexia and other unhealthy eating disorders.” 

“This action by 41 Attorney Generals is a step in the right direction to protect young people on the Internet, in addition to proper parenting and educating parents on the dangers of social media,” said Hartwig.

Stein announced last week that he had joined 41 state attorneys general in filing a lawsuit against Meta in federal and state courts alleging “that the company knowingly designed and deployed harmful features on Instagram and its other social media platforms that purposefully addict children and teens.”

The lawsuits say that Meta violated state and consumer protection laws and the federal Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA).

In 2020, Hartwig released hidden camera footage from his work as a “content moderator” for Facebook while working at the Phoenix offices Cognizant. That footage, released through Project Veritas, featured conversations with co-workers and “documents showing Facebook’s policies and patterns of bias,” said Hartwig.

On July 27, 2020, U.S. Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-Fla.) cited Hartwig’s disclosure as Gaetz filed a criminal referral against Facebook founder Mark Zuckberg “for making materially false statements to Congress while under oath during two joint hearings in Congress.” 

Two days later, Gaetz mentioned Hartwig while questioning Zuckberg during Congressional testimony. 

Hartwig also co-authored the 2021 book, “Behind the Mask of Facebook: A Whistleblower’s Shocking Story of Big Tech Bias and Censorship” and stars in the 2023 movie, “Police State.”