SANTA FE, NM - On Wednesday, December 6th, New Mexico Attorney General Raul Torrez filed a lawsuit against multiple Meta platforms and CEO Mark Zuckerberg in an effort to protect children from sexual abuse, online solicitation, and human trafficking.
According to the press release from Torrez's office, the lawsuit is against Meta Platforms, Inc., CEO Mark Zuckerberg, and the company's wholly-owned subsidiaries, including Instagram, LLC and Facebook Holdings, LLC.
In a statement, Torrez said, "Our investigation into Meta's social media platforms demonstrates that they are not safe spaces for children but rather prime locations for predators to trade child pornography and solicit minors for sex." He added, "As a career prosecutor who specialized in internet crimes against children, I am committed to using every available tool to put an end to these horrific practices and I will hold companies — and their executives — accountable whenever they put profits ahead of children's safety."
According to CBS News, the civil suit, which was filed in New Mexico state court, alleges that children are pressed by predators into providing photos of themselves or to participate in pornographic videos.
For months, Torrez's office carried out an undercover investigation of Meta's platforms, creating decoy accounts of children 14 years old and younger. Through that investigation, the New Mexico State Attorney's Office was able to gather evidence indicating that the platforms have allowed a plethora of illegal activity.
Below are some of those examples:
He added, "Despite repeated assurances to Congress and the public that they can be trusted to police themselves, it is clear that Meta's executives continue to prioritize engagement and ad revenue over the safety of the most vulnerable members of our society."
The lawsuit itself alleges that, "Meta has allowed Facebook and Instagram to become a marketplace for predators in search of children upon whom to prey."
According to the complaint filed, one of the accounts that was a part of the undercover operation had investigators posting images of a fictional 13-year-old girl in Albuquerque, New Mexico. This one account reportedly drew thousands of adult followers and on Facebook Messenger, the account's chats received graphic photos and videos three to four times a week.
The state's suit cites several recent criminal cases in New Mexico alone, one of which includes a perpetrator accused of recruiting more than 100 minor victims through Facebook.
In response to this new complaint, Meta said in a statement that it uses a "range of measures to prevent sexual predators from targeting children" and that it has "disabled more than 500,000 accounts in one month alone for violating the company's child safety policies."
In a statement, a Meta spokesperson said, "Child exploitation is a horrific crime and online predators are determined criminals. We use sophisticated technology, hire child safety experts, report content to the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children, and share information and tools with other companies and law enforcement, including state attorneys general, to help root out predators."
This lawsuit comes shortly after another suit that was filed back in October by 41 other states and the District of Columbia alleging that Meta has deliberately engineered Instagram and Facebook to be addictive to children and teens.
According to the press release from Torrez's office, the lawsuit is against Meta Platforms, Inc., CEO Mark Zuckerberg, and the company's wholly-owned subsidiaries, including Instagram, LLC and Facebook Holdings, LLC.
In a statement, Torrez said, "Our investigation into Meta's social media platforms demonstrates that they are not safe spaces for children but rather prime locations for predators to trade child pornography and solicit minors for sex." He added, "As a career prosecutor who specialized in internet crimes against children, I am committed to using every available tool to put an end to these horrific practices and I will hold companies — and their executives — accountable whenever they put profits ahead of children's safety."
According to CBS News, the civil suit, which was filed in New Mexico state court, alleges that children are pressed by predators into providing photos of themselves or to participate in pornographic videos.
For months, Torrez's office carried out an undercover investigation of Meta's platforms, creating decoy accounts of children 14 years old and younger. Through that investigation, the New Mexico State Attorney's Office was able to gather evidence indicating that the platforms have allowed a plethora of illegal activity.
Below are some of those examples:
- Proactively served and directed the underage users a stream of egregious, sexually explicit images even when the child had expressed no interest in this content;
- Enabled dozens of adults to find, contact, and press children into providing sexually explicit pictures of themselves or participate in pornographic videos;
- Recommended that the children join unmoderated Facebook groups devoted to facilitating commercial sex;
- Allowed Facebook and Instagram users to find, share, and sell an enormous volume of child pornography; and
- Allowed a fictitious mother to offer her 13-year-old daughter for sale for sex traffickers and to create a professional page to allow her daughter to share revenue from advertising.
He added, "Despite repeated assurances to Congress and the public that they can be trusted to police themselves, it is clear that Meta's executives continue to prioritize engagement and ad revenue over the safety of the most vulnerable members of our society."
The lawsuit itself alleges that, "Meta has allowed Facebook and Instagram to become a marketplace for predators in search of children upon whom to prey."
According to the complaint filed, one of the accounts that was a part of the undercover operation had investigators posting images of a fictional 13-year-old girl in Albuquerque, New Mexico. This one account reportedly drew thousands of adult followers and on Facebook Messenger, the account's chats received graphic photos and videos three to four times a week.
The state's suit cites several recent criminal cases in New Mexico alone, one of which includes a perpetrator accused of recruiting more than 100 minor victims through Facebook.
In response to this new complaint, Meta said in a statement that it uses a "range of measures to prevent sexual predators from targeting children" and that it has "disabled more than 500,000 accounts in one month alone for violating the company's child safety policies."
In a statement, a Meta spokesperson said, "Child exploitation is a horrific crime and online predators are determined criminals. We use sophisticated technology, hire child safety experts, report content to the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children, and share information and tools with other companies and law enforcement, including state attorneys general, to help root out predators."
This lawsuit comes shortly after another suit that was filed back in October by 41 other states and the District of Columbia alleging that Meta has deliberately engineered Instagram and Facebook to be addictive to children and teens.
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