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Senator Josh Hawley (R-Mo.) calls for “opening the court door” so parents can sue Yuanaccusing founder and CEO Mark Zuckerberg of misleading Congress as whistleblower details child safety failures on the company’s virtual reality (VR) platform.
Two former Meta-based researchers told the Senate panel on Tuesday that the company buried evidence of child abuse in VR, killed the age-verified study, and made AI chatbot flirts with kids– Propose bipartisan push to protect minors through online measures.
A meta spokesperson told Fox News that the heart of the hearing was “nonsense.”
“The heart of this hearing is nonsense; they are based on selective internal documents that have taken loopholes specifically for false narratives,” the spokesperson said. “The fact is that since early 2022, there has never been any ban on conducting research with young people, and the dime has approved nearly 180 studies on issues related to the safety and well-being of youth, related to reality labs.”
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Meta Oculus Quest 2 Virtual Reality (VR) headsets during media preview at Meta Store in Burlingham, California, USA on Wednesday, May 4, 2022. (Photographer: David Paul Morris/Bloomberg via Getty Images)
The Senate testified before Cayce Savage and former Meta researcher Dr. Jason Sattizahn.
Sattizahn accused Meta of typically prioritizing engagement and profit over safety, especially for children, and studies that manipulate or erase showed damage.
Despite attempts to curb data collection, researchers can do the research, he said, but still shows that the company’s products are on the verge of extinction users.
Germany once banned the sale of Meta’s VR on data processing issues; after the resumption of sales in 2022, Sattizahn was sent there for research.
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Menlo Park, California – December 29: Visitors walk in front of their signature (Facebook) in Menlo Park, California, USA on December 29, 2022. ((Photo taken by Tayfun Coskun/Anadolu agent via Getty Images))
He said he knew Meta was trying to prove that its VR headsets were safe for the Germans.
However, when the study found that minors using Meta VR in Germany were subject to sexual demands, nude photos and other behaviors should never be exposed to children, Sattizahn allegedly asked for all evidence to be removed.
“My research still reveals emotional and psychological impairment, especially for women with personality recruitment, harassment or worse,” he testified. “In response, Mehta asked me to change my research in the future to avoid collecting data on emotional and psychological impairment.”
Savage testified that she led a youth safety study in VR, and also said that meta-people will prioritize engagement over child safety.
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Senator Josh Hawley (R-Mo.) spoke on Meta’s VR platform on September 9, 2025 during a Senate Judicial Subcommittee hearing, urging Congress to “open the court door” so families can sue. (Chip somodevilla)
She said the company has adopted a suppression strategy, including editing reports, requiring deletion and threatening efforts.
Holly asked Savage why using VR is important for children under 13 to make meta? She told him that the kids drove with home adoption gaming equipment, which meant more dollars.
Holy told Savage, while clarifying whether Meta would seek benefits, including exposing children to be subjected to evil sexual abuse.
“When I did the research to determine the harm children face in VR, I had to sneak in because the law wouldn’t actually let me do that, and I found that the app’s Roblox was used in VR, used by coordinated pedophile rings,” Savage said. “They set up strip clubs and paid the kids to strip.”
Robux can be converted to real money, she added.
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Roblox logo. During the hearing, whistleblower Cayce Savage claimed that the VR app on the Meta headset had been developed by Predators and said she warned Meta not to host it. (Getty Image)
Savage said she marked the question to Meta, saying that under no circumstances should be presided over Roblox app on headphones.
“You can download it now in their app store,” she said.
Savage later told the group in question that she estimated that any kid in the social VR space would have something very inappropriate to or directly contact with.
“Every child who enters the platform is 100% exposed to child sexual abuse material,” Hawley said Tuesday night. “I’m just going back to the fact that we have to protect our children. It’s impossible that if you were online as a kid, you could be 100% sexually abused, which is what witnesses are saying today. If you are online, if you are online, if you are online, if you are on the VR program platform, then you are sexually abused, that’s their testimony.”
Holly’s name is Zuckerberg In order to testify on January 31, 2024, the dollar does not allow people under the age of 13 to participate in the service.

Chief Executive Officer Mark Zuckerberg Senator Josh Hawley accused him of misleading Congress for misleading users under the age of 13 on the company’s platform; Mehta called the whistleblower’s claim “nonsense.” (Matt McClain/Washington Post via Getty Images)
In testimony last year, the CEO said that if anyone under the age of 13 is found to be removed from the service, and to answer another question, Zuckerberg said Meta does not want users under the age of 13.
Hulley said Zuckerberg misled Americans with such testimony, noting that whistleblowers said they said users under the age of 13 were rampant on the platform.
Hawley told Fox News Numbers, “I can’t see how he stayed in touch with what he said to us under oath last year. “But many of his statements are. I mean, he said over and over again that whether it is a security protocol proposed by Facebook, that’s not true. Whether it’s about their work in China, he said, ‘Oh, we don’t work in China. ‘He said, this is not true. This is not true.
Hawley said that despite hearing that Meta was not interested, he called on Zuckerberg to testify again.

Senator Hawley accused Fung Chief Executive Mark Zuckerberg of misleading Congress for misleading users under the age of 13 and urged quick accountability. (Tom Williams/CQ-Roll Call, Inc, via Getty Images)
Ultimately, Holly said it was time to “open the court door” so that victims and families could sue Meta for not protecting children.
“It’s clear to me that it’s time to allow parents and victims to sue the company,” he said. “They have to be able to enter the court and be responsible before the jury, which started with Mark Zuckerberg. There has to be a sense of responsibility. We have to open the door to the court and allow the victim to spend the day in court.”
Hawley said he introduced legislation through the Judiciary Committee that would allow victims of child abuse to sue Facebook or any major tech companies that are harmful.
“I don’t think we’re seeing real changes in these companies until it becomes law and parents and victims can charge these people’s responsibilities to the court,” he said. “The most important thing is that we have to protect our children. I mean, they make money by stealing the innocence of their children.”
Meta told Fox News Digital that the company is training its AI robots to avoid self-harm, suicide, improper diet and potentially inappropriate romantic conversations to teenagers, regardless of content. The company is also working to limit teenagers’ access to a select list of AI roles “now.”
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R-Tenn’s Senator Marsha Blackburn ended the meeting by inviting anyone from Meta to testify or challenge what he said.
“I think they see that there is indeed bipartisan anger, not only to Monlai, but also other social media platforms and virtual reality platforms and chatbots that intentionally, consciously hurt our kids,” she said. “It has to stop. Enough.”