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New Mexico’s Attorney General, Raul Torrez, filed a lawsuit against Meta Platforms, Facebook, and CEO Mark Zuckerberg, citing their alleged failure in safeguarding children from sexual abuse, online solicitation, and human trafficking. According to Torrez, Meta’s platforms were identified as unsafe spaces, facilitating predators in sharing child pornography and soliciting minors for explicit content.
In response, Meta highlighted its technological measures, employment of child safety experts, and collaboration with law enforcement and child protection organizations. They reported disabling over 500,000 accounts for violating child sexual exploitation policies in August alone.
Torrez accused Zuckerberg and Meta’s executives of being aware of the risks posed to young users but failing to implement adequate changes to prevent child exploitation on their platforms. Montana Attorney General Austin Knudsen also sued Meta, specifically targeting Instagram, alleging it was designed to be addictive, especially for minors.
These legal actions are part of a broader trend of lawsuits against social media companies, with numerous states accusing Meta of fueling a youth mental health crisis. Additionally, U.S. Senators Ed Markey and Bill Cassidy accused Meta of deliberately circumventing children’s privacy laws and urged the company to cease this practice.
