(NewsNation) — New Mexico Attorney General Raúl Torrez is suing Mark Zuckerberg and his company Meta, the parent company of Facebook and Instagram, alleging the platform deliberately guided children to harmful content and explicit material, enabling adults to locate and even solicit minors.
Investigators created several decoy accounts for kids aged 14 and younger, revealing disturbing allegations. The accounts also received recommendations to join unmoderated Facebook groups devoted to facilitating commercial sex, investigators said, adding that Meta also let its users find, share and sell “an enormous volume of child pornography.”
Torrez alleges that these platforms are not safe for children but rather "prime locations for predators." The claim is backed by evidence suggesting that platforms proactively served and directed underage users to explicit content, enabled adults to contact children for photo-sharing and allowed children to join groups related to human trafficking.
In one case. the platform permitted a fake mother to offer her 13-year-old for sale.
A Meta spokesperson stated they can’t comment on specific claims in the lawsuit, but provided a statement, "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. In one month alone, we disabled more than half a million accounts for violating our child safety policies."
Jennifer Coffindaffer, a retired FBI special agent, believes this lawsuit could enact significant change.
"I'm glad it's happening. I think that it needs to be looked at closer, and I think it needs to stop. If they can do an algorithm to have images show up for people that are seeking that from a sex trafficking or pedophilia standpoint, they could certainly put an algorithm to stop it," she said.
More than 40 states are suing Meta for allegedly contributing to the youth mental health crisis by deliberately designing the platforms to addict children to them.