Facebook and Instagram accused of creating a “marketplace” for child predators in new lawsuit

Meta and its CEO, Mark Zuckerberg, allowed Facebook and Instagram to become a “marketplace for predators in search of children,” a new lawsuit from the New Mexico attorney general alleges, according to a report from The Wall Street Journal. The lawsuit, filed in state court on Tuesday, also claims Meta’s algorithms recommend sexual content to children.

As outlined in the complaint, the New Mexico attorney general’s office conducted an investigation that involved creating test profiles on Facebook and Instagram that appeared to be teenagers or preteens. Not only did the office find inappropriate recommendations for each of the decoys, such as an account that “openly” posted adult pornography, but it also found that they attracted predators as well.

One test account claiming to be a 13-year-old girl garnered “thousands of adult followers” who invited her to private chat groups and “sex content featuring both children and adults,” according to the Journal. Meanwhile, on Facebook Messenger, the complaint says the fake 13-year-old’s account received messages “filled with pictures and videos of genitalia, including exposed penises, which she received at least 3-4 times per week.”

The Journal has published a series of reports over the past several months that found disturbing patterns on Facebook and Instagram. Most recently, the outlet published an investigation into how Facebook appears to enable and promote groups dedicated to sharing child sexual abuse material. Meta responded by expanding the child safety-related terms, phrases, and emoji it uses to find predatory networks. It also stopped recommending groups with members that “exhibit potentially suspicious behavior.”

“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,” a Meta spokesperson told the Journal. Meta didn’t immediately respond to The Verge’s request for comment.

New Mexico Attorney General Raúl Torrez claims Meta is downplaying the dangers children face on the platform and told the Journal that the features of Facebook and Instagram “are not engineered in a way to prevent this matchmaking from likely predators and likely victims.”