WASHINGTON D.C., JULY 22, 2026 – U.S. Senator Chuck Grassley (R-IA), Chair of Senate Judiciary Committee, took an important step toward holding Meta accountable for willingly exposing children to harm online and retaliating against lawful whistleblowers. Those whistleblowers, Josh DeFriez and Will Sevedge, co-represented by WhistleblowerAid.org and Katz Banks Kumin LLP, were previously employed by Meta as user experience researchers until they were terminated by the tech company in recent months. Today, Senator Grassley has demanded that Meta explain why it terminated the employment of two previously anonymous whistleblowers who revealed that Meta was suppressing information about the dangers its platforms pose to young and vulnerable users.
“As the Co-Chairman of the Senate’s Whistleblower Protection Caucus, I am concerned about the allegations my office has received of Meta’s alleged continued retaliation of whistleblowers,” Grassley wrote in a letter sent to Meta today. He demanded that Meta address DeFriez and Sevedge’s termination and told the company to “provide all records.” Sen. Grassley has given Meta a deadline of August 5 to respond.
“Josh and Will bravely came forward, legally and responsibly, with four other whistleblowers to expose the harm that Meta is doing to children. Then Meta fired them, despite their outstanding performance records,” said WhistleblowerAid.org CEO Libby Liu. “We thank Senator Grassley for speaking out on behalf of these courageous truthtellers whose revelations are informing Congress and the public about the online dangers tech companies are creating for children. It is past time for Meta to be held accountable for exploiting children in pursuit of financial gain.”
Last year, DeFriez and Sevedge, along with Dr. Jason Sattizahn, Cayce Savage, and two anonymous whistleblowers, disclosed to Congress that Meta’s virtual reality platform exposed young users to harmful content and online predators. They gave accounts of how the tech giant buried their internal research, censored its employees, and diverted research away from known child safety problems. On September 9, 2025, Sattizahn and Savage testified before a Senate Judiciary subcommittee about the disregard of child safety they witnessed at Meta.
On July 1, 2026, attorneys from WhistleblowerAid.org and Katz Banks Kumin LLP sent a letter to Senator Grassley and Senate Judiciary Ranking Member Dick Durbin (D-IL) to inform the Committee about Meta’s retaliation and asking the senators to take action on behalf of the whistleblowers.
WhistleblowerAid.org is a pioneering non-profit legal organization founded in 2017 that helps public and private sector workers report and expose wrongdoing safely, lawfully, and responsibly.
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