New Mexico state investigators set up test accounts on the Meta-owned social media sites for four fictional children using AI-generated photos that purportedly portrayed children aged 14 or younger.
Meta and its CEO Mark Zuckerberg — whose platforms are already under fire for fueling a youth mental health crisis — allegedly failed to adequately protect those underage users from being inundated with the vile content, according to the complaint filed Tuesday in New Mexico state court.
“Meta has allowed Facebook and Instagram to become a marketplace for predators in search of children upon whom to prey,” according to the complaint, which was first reported by the Wall Street Journal.
“Meta’s conduct is not only unacceptable; it is unlawful.”
The lawsuit argues that Zuckerberg, who is named as a co-defendant, bears personal responsibility for the app design decisions that have placed children at risk.
The shocking claims emerged as critics around the country accuse Meta of ignoring risks to young users in favor of profit.
In October, a coalition of 33 state attorneys general sued Meta alleging it knowingly built addictive features into its apps to the detriment of its young users.
The state of New Mexico’s allegations are similar to details that emerged from a recent Wall Street Journal investigation — where reporters who set up test accounts found that the Instaram Reels video feed recommends “risqué footage of children as well as overtly sexual adult videos” to adult users who follow children.
The accounts were created using adult birth dates – as underage users sometimes do to bypass app age restriction.
In one disturbing example cited in the lawsuit, state investigators set up a test account with the name “Issa Bee” who claimed to be a 13-year-old girl living in Albuquerque, New Mexico.
The fake profile gained more than 6,700 followers on Facebook – most of which are “males between the ages of 18- and 40-years old,” according to the suit.
“On Facebook Messenger, Issa’s messages and chats are filled with pictures and videos of genitalia, including exposed penises, which she receives at least 3-4 times per week,” the lawsuit says. “As the messages come in, she has no means of screening or previewing the messages.”
The “Bee” account also received horrifying sexual propositions from adult users, including one who allegedly “openly promised her $5,000 a week to be his ‘sugar baby,’” the suit said.
“It is apparent, based on a review of Issa’s account activity, that Facebook is not scanning the text of messages she receives for child safety purposes,” the lawsuit says. “Despite overtly sexualized text messages and chats, Facebook has not removed or reported any message she received.”
Meanwhile, content recommended for “Bee” on Instagram “in her feed include explicit and sexualized images of teenage girls.”
The investigators also set up a test account that purportedly belonged to the girl’s mother and was filled with posts suggesting she was willing to sexually traffic her daughter.
Elsewhere, a test account that purportedly belonged to another 13-year-old girl received a recommendation to follow a Facebook account that allegedly sells “sexual videos,” the suit said.
In another case, investigators set up an account for a 14-year-old girl who joined “a Facebook group for individuals seeking jobs in New Mexico.”
The test account was solicited by a male group member who offered a six-figure payout if “she would have sex in a pornographic video,” according to the suit.
“Mr. Zuckerberg and other Meta executives are aware of the serious harm their products can pose to young users, and yet they have failed to make sufficient changes to their platforms that would prevent the sexual exploitation of children,” New Mexico Attorney General Raul Torrez said in a statement.
“Despite repeated assurances to Congress and the public that they can be trusted to police themselves, it is clear that Meta’s executives continue to prioritize engagement and ad revenue over the safety of the most vulnerable members of our society,” he added.
Torrez told the Journal his office submitted some evidence uncovered regarding solicitation attempts to local law enforcement for possible prosecution.
When reached for comment by the Journal, Meta did not comment specifically on the lawsuit’s allegations. The company has argued that it makes extensive efforts to protect young users from harm.
“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,” Meta said in a statement.
Representatives for Meta did not immediately return a request for further comment.
New Mexico’s lawsuit asserts that child predators have regularly used Facebook and other social media platforms to solicit children — despite Meta’s assertations that it doesn’t allow child exploitation on its apps.
“Cases dating back more than a decade and continuing through this year, involve children in New Mexico who were contacted, groomed, and lured into sending explicit photographs or meeting predators through Facebook or Instagram,” the suit alleges.
The attorney general office’s lawsuit includes redactions and excluded some images that were “deemed too graphic and disturbing” to public, according to a release.
