Meta has knowingly allowed its social media platforms Instagram and Facebook to become the “largest online marketplace for predators seeking to exploit children,” according to New Mexico’s Department of Justice
Opening arguments begin next week in a lawsuit brought by New Mexico against the owner of Facebook and Instagram, claiming the social media giant is putting children and teenagers at risk of sexual abuse and human trafficking.
Meta argues that it moderates teen accounts, has safety measures, and that the case is based on what the company calls sensationalist arguments and cherry-picked documents.
New Mexico Attorney General Raúl Torrez said his state’s investigation resulted in the arrest of three individuals who thought they were meeting up with an underage child.
Meta already knew about these individuals’ inappropriate interactions with minors, he said.
“ I think the jury, having the ability to evaluate all the evidence, is gonna be able to render a judgment,” Torrez said. “I’m confident that once they get to see what we have seen, they’re going to find that the conduct of the executives inside of Meta is just shocking, frankly, in terms of turning a blind eye to the safety issues that we’ve identified.”
Torrez is seeking monetary damages for victims and new safeguards to protect children.
4 questions with Raúl Torrez
Your case is built in part on an undercover investigation where investigators use decoy accounts posed as children online that get approached by sexual predators. Can you tell us a little about what they found?
“What they found really confirms what the whistleblowers at Meta have been saying for years, that predators have migrated to the platform. And what it has turned into is frankly, the largest online marketplace for predators seeking to exploit children, people who are trying to trade child pornography, engage in child solicitation, but also potentially target children in the real world.
“We know that in part because we conducted a subsequent operation called Operation MetaPhile, where we created decoy accounts on the platform and subsequently took into custody three different individuals who showed up at a motel thinking that they were gonna be meeting up with underage children to have sex.”
When does the trail start? What does the evidence look like?
“Opening statements do start next week. There’s gonna be nearly seven weeks of testimony.
“A lot of evidence submitted by not just our own special agents and people who were involved in the operation, but confirmation of what they found by Meta’s own executives, including some of the internal communications from the key executives who are responsible for product safety, including numerous instances where people inside the company raised a red flag and were disregarded.”
Your team deposed Mark Zuckerberg, the head of the company. Is that correct? Do you plan to use some of that information in the trial?
“Unfortunately, we don’t have the ability to compel Mr. Zuckerberg’s participation in the trial. We certainly welcome him to New Mexico to sit in front of a jury and explain his conduct in the case if Meta decides to put him on the stand. I think it would be interesting for members of the public and members of the jury to hear from him, but we don’t have the ability to force him to testify.”
What about a provision of law known as Section 330 that gives immunity to internet platforms like Facebook from the content that users post?
“Section 230 provides immunity for the content of third parties posted on the platform, and so is something that Big Tech has been hiding behind for a number of years and was obviously the first thing they tried to hide behind in terms of not having to go to trial.
“In this case, the judge evaluated their motions, rejected those motions, in part because we’re not going after and we’re not really focusing on third-party content. What we’re focused on are the design features of their product and the misrepresentations that they make. Our consumer protection laws allow us to pursue claims with respect to those misrepresentations and to product safety and that’ll be the core of the trial presentation that we make beginning next week.”
This interview has been edited for clarity.
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Wilder Fleming produced and edited this segment for broadcast with Micaela Rodríguez. Allison Hagan produced it for the web.
This article was originally published on WBUR.org.
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