A worker picks up trash in front of a new logo and the name “Meta” on a sign outside Facebook’s headquarters in Menlo Park, California, on October 28, 2021.
Justin Sullivan | Getty Images
WASHINGTON — New legal filings regarding child exploitation MetaFacebook and Instagram apps claim that internal estimates in 2021 found that as many as 100,000 children were being sexually harassed on their platforms every day, including photos of adults’ genitals.
This is a new complaint from the New Mexico Attorney General’s office in an ongoing lawsuit against the social media giant over the company’s steps to protect children online as the platform explodes in popularity among young people. It was revealed in the unedited part.
The complaint also includes a description of a Meta internal chat from 2020 in which an employee told a co-worker, “I’m going to give you specific reasons for your child’s grooming (something I just heard is common on TikTok).” What are you doing?” he asked.
“It’s somewhere between zero and negligible,” my colleague replied. “Child safety is clearly not a goal this semester.”
That same year, Meta executives scrambled to respond to a complaint from an Apple executive who had been soliciting a 12-year-old child on Facebook, according to the newly unredacted filing.
“This infuriated Apple so much that they threatened to remove us from the App Store,” one Meta employee told a colleague. The same employee also asked, “When will adults stop messaging minors on[Instagram]Direct?”
A Meta spokesperson said the company has fixed many of the issues identified in the complaint. The company says it disabled more than 500,000 accounts that violated its child safety policies in one month alone.
“We want to provide teens with a safe and age-appropriate online experience, and we have over 30 tools to support them and their parents. We have spent 10 years working on these issues and have hired people who have dedicated their careers to keeping young people safe.This complaint uses selective quotes and carefully selected documents to explain our work. “It misrepresents the characteristics of the company,” the company said.
The complaint alleges that Facebook and Instagram failed to protect underage users from online predators and that Meta employees urged the company to make safety changes, which the company did not implement. are doing.
of suit, The lawsuit, filed Dec. 5, alleges the company refused to make the recommended changes because it prioritized increased social media engagement and increased advertising over the safety of children. Mark Zuckerberg, Meta’s founder and CEO, was named as a defendant.
Mark Zuckerberg told the world in October 2021 that Facebook would be rebranded as Meta, as the company moves toward the Metaverse.
Facebook | via Reuters
New Mexico Attorney General Raul Torrez said Thursday that “Meth employees have complained for years about how decisions made by Mehta executives exposed children to dangerous recruitment and sexual exploitation.” “I’ve tried to sound the alarm.”
“Meta executives, including Mr. Zuckerberg, have consistently made decisions that prioritize growth over children’s safety. The company continues to downplay the illegal and harmful activity that children are exposed to on its platform. “Meta’s internal data and presentation is deeply problematic and pervasive,” Torres said.
Meta has long faced criticism for its handling of problematic content aimed at younger users. In 2021, whistleblower Frances Haugen leaked internal documents to the Wall Street Journal that revealed the company was aware of the harm caused to teenage girls by harmful content on Instagram, but the issue It was revealed that nothing was done to resolve the issue.
Haugen later testified before a Senate committee and faced questions from outraged lawmakers who worried that the company was putting profits ahead of user safety.