Sen. Chuck Grassley is demanding solutions from Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg after a former firm engineer who created “digital experiences for youths” admitted on digital camera he tried to sext a 13-year-old.
Grassley — a strong Iowa Republican who serves because the Senate’s president professional tempore — despatched a scathing letter to the Fb founder within the wake of the disturbing confession of 44-year-old engineering supervisor Josh Felker, who was caught in undercover sting by the Predator Poachers Lengthy Island.
Felker, 44, who has since been positioned on go away from the Fb dad or mum firm, was arrested on July 15 after admitting to the group in a now-viral video that he had been grooming and sexting somebody he thought was a teen lady who doesn’t really exist.
The Meta employee had made a lot of disturbing statements within the video, together with that he want to be the lady he tried to groom’s father.
“These allegations elevate vital questions concerning Meta’s inner governance, worker screening, belief and security tradition, and controls for workers who work on merchandise and experiences designed for kids,” Grassley wrote within the letter despatched to Zuckerburg on Wednesday, referencing The Publish’s unique reporting on the sting.
“In addition they elevate questions on Meta’s processes for figuring out, investigating, and responding to worker misconduct,” the letter added.
Grassley questioned the tech large’s inner vetting practices, oversight for workers engaged on kids’s merchandise, and requested whether or not the corporate has ever knowingly saved registered intercourse offenders on its payroll.
The 92-year-old Republican, who chairs the Senate Judiciary Committee and is the chamber’s second-highest-ranking member behind the vp, gave Meta till Aug. 12 to reply eight pointed questions concerning The Publish’s reporting and the Predator Poachers’ sting.
These questions embody asking Zuckerberg to handle every allegation made towards Felker, whether or not the engineer had entry to private consumer information or inner programs tied to minors’ private accounts, and whether or not he had any inner complaints lodged towards him.
Grassley additionally demanded Meta flip over a full accounting of each inner grievance, arrest and allegation of sexual misconduct towards minors lodged towards its staff over the previous decade and describe, intimately, the background screening and vetting processes for hiring staff that work on growing “digital experiences for kids.
“The foxes should not be allowed to protect the hen home,” Grassley wrote.
Wednesday’s letter is now the fourth in simply over a yr that Grassley has despatched urgent Zuckerberg on baby security failures on the social media large — and he made clear his endurance has run out.
“So far, Meta has failed to totally and fully reply to my questions and doc requests,” Grassley wrote.
The senator famous he first wrote to Meta in April 2025 over whistleblower claims the corporate focused adverts at teenagers based mostly on their emotional states, then once more in September 2025 over reviews of bullying and sexual harassment on its Horizon Worlds platform, and for a 3rd time later that month over allegations that the corporate misrepresented the psychological well being dangers and sexual exploitation he stated runs rampant on its platforms.
A Meta spokesperson didn’t immediately deal with Grassley’s letter, however informed The Publish, “This worker is not with the corporate and we’re cooperating with regulation enforcement in its investigation.”
