Facebook Exec Caught Allegedly Trying to Meet 13-Year-Old in Hotel Room

A former executive at Mark Zuckerberg’s Meta has left the company after video emerged of him allegedly attempting to solicit sex from a minor.

Jeren Miles, Meta’s former head of global community development, can be seen in a viral YouTube video posted on the channel of a vigilante group called PCI Predator Catchers Indianapolis. In the two hour video, two people interrogate Miles for attempting, they say, to meet with a 13-year-old boy for sex in a hotel room. 

While the video doesn’t contain any explicit imagery, it does show Miles eventually admitting that he had been having a very inappropriate conversation with someone he thought was a young boy. 

"Throughout all of this, there was never any intention of meeting up with him," Miles said in the video, despite the fact that it appears he went to a hotel room with full intention of meeting up with a child. "This is the one time I’ve done this."

You can watch the video for yourself below:

 

Meta says Miles is "no longer employed with the company," though it’s unclear whether he left voluntarily or if the company fired him. 

"The seriousness of these allegations cannot be overstated," a Meta spokesperson told TechCrunch in a statement. "We are actively investigating this situation and cannot provide further comment at this time." 

Regardless of how he left, the alarming video represents yet another blow to Zuckerberg’s Metaverse goals — especially given the controversy the company has encountered regarding moderation on its platforms. 

For one, experts have already raised concerns about child predators in the Metaverse. And there have already been numerous instances of sexual assault in Meta’s Horizon Worlds, its de facto metaverse platform. 

In fact, Miles isn't even the first Facebook heavy hitter to leave the company after an underage sex sting. Back in 2017, the former head of computer vision at what was then the social giant's subsidiary, Oculus, was fired after attempting to meet with an undercover officer who he believed was a 15-year-old girl.

Oculus, it's worth noting, has since become the backbone of the company's Metaverse efforts.

Now, with the fresh controversy of one of the company’s senior members caught on video attempting to solicit sex from a child, it’s yet another massive hurdle for the fledgling company. 

Updated with additional details.

More on metaverse problems: Experts Warn of Child Predators in Mark Zuckerberg’s Metaverse