Lawsuit Reveals Child Exploitation On Meta's Platforms

(RTTNews) - A recently revealed unredacted portion of the lawsuit filed by New Mexico's Attorney General Raul Torrez against Meta in December contains multiple claims against the company, including presentations by Meta employees and internal communications regarding child exploitation on Meta's Facebook and Instagram apps.

The lawsuit alleges that Meta has created a "breeding ground" for child predators, as according to the internal company estimate, as many as 100,000 children daily were exposed to sexual harassment, including explicit images, on the platforms

The documents contain the description of an event in 2020 where the 12-year-old daughter of an Apple executive was "solicited" on Instagram. This incident is among several outlined in the recently unveiled complaint, which claims that Meta employees have frequently voiced worries about the company's insufficient efforts to safeguard young users from exploitation.

The lawsuit claims that Meta has been aware for a long time that it struggles to identify when young and underage users falsely represent their ages on its platforms and that its apps expose young users to sexual content and inappropriate messages from adults.

Meta challenged this assertion in a statement on Thursday. Meta spokesperson Liza Crenshaw stated, "We want teens to have safe, age-appropriate experiences online, and we have over 30 tools to support them and their parents. We've spent a decade working on these issues. The complaint mischaracterizes our work using selective quotes and cherry-picked documents."

Additionally, Meta stated in a blog post earlier this month that it has implemented technology to proactively identify and deactivate accounts exhibiting suspicious behaviors. It also formed a Child Safety Task Force to enhance its policies and practices related to youth safety.