META Lawsuit for the Facilitation of Sex Trafficking and Child Exploitation; Failure to Prioritize User Safety

April 26, 2024.

In December of 2023, the Attorney General of New Mexico, Raúl Torrez, filed a lawsuit against META and CEO Mark Zuckerberg for knowingly facilitating sex trafficking and child exploitation on their online platforms (Attorney General Raúl Torrez Files Lawsuit against Meta par. 1). The investigation by the New Mexico Attorney General’s office discovered internal documents revealing that META officials were aware that their platforms were used to sexually exploit children, solicit Child Sexual Abuse Material (CSAM), and that META’s algorithms specifically recommend such conduct to children and predatory users (State of New Mexico Office of the Attorney General par. 237).  Evidence from the investigation displays that in a META company chat, an employee asked, “[w]hat specifically are we doing for child grooming (something I just heard about that is happening a lot on TikTok)?” An associate replied, “Somewhere between zero and negligible…Child safety is an explicit non-goal this half” (Mangan par. 5). META officials prioritized ongoing projects to gain revenue over securing the protection of its users, contradictory to META’s Community Standards Agreement contract claiming to provide a “safe” online environment to its users.

In 2022, META reported an annual revenue of $116 billion (State of New Mexico Office of the Attorney General par. 4). Yet, the security tools currently in place are entirely inept, leading to increased user victimization on their platforms. Facebook and Instagram are the most used platforms for the recruitment of sex trafficking victims, responsible for more than double the amount of all the other online platforms combined. CSAM on Facebook and Instagram is ten times higher in prevalence than on platforms like Pornhub and OnlyFans (State of New Mexico Office of the Attorney General par. 208). During their investigation, the New Mexico Attorney General’s Office created undercover accounts posing as children 13 years and younger. The decoy accounts were rapidly flooded with targeted solicitations and perverse, explicit photos (Mangan par. 8). Evidence demonstrated that META’s platforms actively provided children with algorithmic recommendations to join unmonitored chat groups for commercial sex (State of New Mexico Office of the Attorney General par. 70). The investigation concluded that an estimated 100,000 children are victimized daily by online harassment and sexually explicit material (Mangan par. 4). The excessive tolerance and facilitation of sex trafficking and the solicitation of CSAM on META’s platforms depict the insufficient online security measures on their platforms and an unacceptable disregard for user safety.

META addressed the lawsuit by affirming its Community Standards, stating its intolerance of CSAM and any activity that endangers children on its platforms (Mangan par. 17). META claimed to be “mischaracterized” by selective evidence and assured that its platforms use over 30 tools to support parents in better protecting their children online (Mangan par. 16). Despite META’s claims of their efforts to mitigate explicit online content, the evidence from the lawsuit proved that META knowingly failed to adequately address the predatory, exploitative, and criminal activity on their platforms.

The core technologies of META’s platforms directly promote the facilitation of sex trafficking and the distribution of CSAM. Algorithmically generated search suggestions and “for you” recommendations on Facebook and Instagram expedite the connection of users and their interests, promoting predators to engage in the unmonitored grooming and harassment of children online (State of New Mexico Office of the Attorney General par. 150). Further, META's current technologies to moderate harmful and explicit content are grossly ineffective. 

META relies on AI systems that use algorithms to review and remove reported material intended to take the workload off humans. However, AI is still a developing technology and does not sufficiently recognize and distinguish harmful content (Young par. 22). An employee at META disclosed inside information to investigators that META’s reliance on AI systems only catches 10-20%’ of the illicit material on its platform (State of New Mexico Office of the Attorney General par. 238). The deficient AI technology was displayed during the investigation, where multiple decoy accounts posing as children reported pornographic content that was sent by adult users, only to receive bot feedback stating that “community standards had not been violated” (State of New Mexico Office of the Attorney General par. 115). Moreover, users can create new accounts to continue their offenses after their accounts have been banned or reported (State of New Mexico Office of the Attorney General par. 146).

META’s failure to target and report explicit content, the reliance of users to police themselves, and the denial to remove harmful content reported to META portray the facilitation of sex trafficking and the endangerment of users on their online platforms. Although META assures that many tools are utilized to moderate harmful content on their platforms, it is evident that META has failed to prioritize user protection on their platforms (Attorney General Raúl Torrez Files Lawsuit against Meta par. 4). META exploited their users by knowingly short-stepping their online security measures. Online platforms like Facebook and Instagram must prioritize advancing their online security mechanisms to ensure the safety of the rapidly growing online population and decrease further user victimization.

Citations

“Attorney General Raúl Torrez Files Lawsuit against Meta Platforms and Mark Zuckerberg to Protect Children from Sexual Abuse and Human Trafficking.” New Mexico Department of Justice, 6 Dec. 2023, nmdoj.gov/press-release/attorney-general-raul-torrez-files-lawsuit-against-meta-platforms-and-mark-zuckerberg-to-protect-children-from-sexual-abuse-and-human-trafficking/. Accessed 14 Mar. 2024.

Mangan, Dan. “Meta Chief Mark Zuckerberg “Needs to Do the Right Thing” in Child Sex Targeting Fight: New Mexico Attorney General.” CNBC, 31 Jan. 2024, www.cnbc.com/2024/01/31/meta-chief-mark-zuckerberg-criticized-over-child-sex-targeting-on-site.html#:~:text=Torrez%20sued%20Meta%20and%20Zuckerberg. Accessed 14 Mar. 2024.

State of New Mexico Office of the Attorney General. “State of NM, Raúl Torrez, Attorney General v. Meta Platforms Inc. Plaintiff’s Complaint.” 2023-12-05-NM-v.-Meta-et-al.-Complaint-Redacted.Pdf, 5 Dec. 2023, nmag.gov/wp-content/uploads/2024/01/2023-12-05-NM-v.-Meta-et-al.-COMPLAINT-REDACTED.pdf.

Young, Greyson. “How Much is Too Much: The Difficulties of Social Media Content Moderation” Information & Communications Technology Law, vol. 31, no. 1, pp 1–16, 2022, WorldCat.org, doi;10.1080/13600834.2021.1905593.