Meta lawsuit over child safety on social sites escapes dismissal

Update: 

• A New Mexico state judge rejected Meta’s attempt to dismiss claims it enabled the sexual exploitation of minors on Instagram and Facebook. 
• New Mexico Attorney General Raúl Torrez filed a lawsuit against Meta in December following an investigation it claims found Facebook and Instagram allowed users to buy and share an “enormous volume” of child sexual abuse content. 
• The judge ruled Meta was not protected from the claims under Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act (CDA). 
• Meta attempted to lean on the CDA while arguing it could not be held liable for the content its users share. 
• Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg is also named as a defendant in the complaint. 

New Mexico Meta lawsuit overview: 

• Who: Meta and its social media platforms Facebook and Instagram are facing a lawsuit from the New Mexico Attorney General over child safety. 
• Why: The lawsuit claims the platforms allow sexually explicit content, child pornography and sexual exploitation of minors to occur.
• Where: The New Mexico child social media lawsuit was filed in First Judicial District Court in Santa Fe County.

(Dec. 12, 2023)

Meta and its social media platforms Facebook and Instagram are facing a lawsuit from the New Mexico Attorney General claiming the websites enable sexual exploitation of minors along with feeding minors sexually explicit content.

The attorney general’s office conducted an undercover investigation, creating accounts for fictitious users under age 14 to uncover what the social media sites served those users and found the sites:

• Send underage users sexually explicit images.
• Allowed adults to find and contact children regarding providing sexually explicit pictures of themselves.
• Recommended children join Facebook groups facilitating commercial sex.
• Allowed Facebook and Instagram users to find, share and sell child pornography. 
• Allowed a fictitious mother to offer her 13-year-old daughter for sale to sex traffickers.

“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,” Torrez said in a statement. “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.” 

Child exploitative content 10 times more prevalent on Meta than Pornhub, AG says

The investigation showed Facebook and Instagram do not remove child sexual abuse material from their platforms and that child exploitative content is more than 10 times more prevalent on the sites than it is on Pornhub and OnlyFans, the attorney general said.

New York officials announced new legislation in October they say is intended to regulate “unhealthy social media usage” by prohibiting minors from being able to access certain addictive content without parental consent. 

Have you encountered sexually explicit material dangerous to minors on Meta social media platforms? Let us know in the comments.

The plaintiff is represented by Raul Torres, James W. Grayson and Serena R. Wheaton of the New Mexico Attorney General’s Office along with Linda Singer and David L. Ackerman of Motley Rice LLC.

The New Mexico Meta lawsuit is State of New Mexico, et al. v. Meta Platforms Inc., et al., Case No. D-101-CV-2023-02838, in the First Judicial District Court County of Santa Fe State of New Mexico.

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