{"id":2374,"date":"2026-02-20T03:22:52","date_gmt":"2026-02-19T23:22:52","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.actutech.app\/the-executive-that-helped-build-metas-ad-machine-is-trying-to-expose-it\/"},"modified":"2026-02-20T03:22:52","modified_gmt":"2026-02-19T23:22:52","slug":"the-executive-that-helped-build-metas-ad-machine-is-trying-to-expose-it","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.actutech.app\/en\/the-executive-that-helped-build-metas-ad-machine-is-trying-to-expose-it\/","title":{"rendered":"The executive that helped build Meta\u2019s ad machine is trying to expose it"},"content":{"rendered":"<figure>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" alt=\"Teens using social media on cell phones on a graphic green background.\" data-caption=\"\" data-portal-copyright=\"Image: Cath Virginia \/ The Verge, Getty Images\" data-has-syndication-rights=\"1\" src=\"https:\/\/platform.theverge.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2026\/02\/STKS526_SOCIAL_MEDIA_TRIAL_CVIRGINIA_A.jpg?quality=90&amp;strip=all&amp;crop=0,0,100,100\" \/><figcaption>\n\t\t<\/figcaption><\/p><\/figure>\n<p class=\"has-text-align-none\">Brian Boland spent more than a decade figuring out how to build a system that would make Meta money. On Thursday, he told a California jury it incentivized drawing more and more users, including teens, onto Facebook and Instagram &#8211; despite the risks.<\/p>\n<p class=\"has-text-align-none\">Boland&rsquo;s testimony came a day after Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg <a href=\"https:\/\/www.theverge.com\/policy\/881210\/mark-zuckerberg-meta-ceo-testimony-filters\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">took the stand in a case<\/a> over whether Meta and YouTube are liable for allegedly harming a young woman&rsquo;s mental health. Zuckerberg framed Meta&rsquo;s mission as balancing safety with free expression, not revenue. Boland&rsquo;s role was to counter this by explaining how Meta makes money, and how that shaped its platforms&rsquo; design. Boland testified \u2026<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.theverge.com\/policy\/881706\/meta-executive-brian-boland-testimony-social-media-addiction-trial\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Read the full story at The Verge.<\/a><\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Brian Boland spent more than a decade figuring out how to build a system that would make Meta money. On [&hellip;]<\/p>","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"","ast-site-content-layout":"","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"default","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"ast-content-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2374","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-non-classe"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.actutech.app\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2374","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.actutech.app\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.actutech.app\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.actutech.app\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.actutech.app\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2374"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.actutech.app\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2374\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.actutech.app\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2374"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.actutech.app\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2374"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.actutech.app\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2374"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}