New Mexico prosecutors allege Meta prioritized profit over child safety, even as child abuse surged on Instagram and Facebook. The landmark trial, now in its fifth week, has seen the state attorney general rest its case on March 5, with Meta's defense expected to continue for another week before jury deliberations.
Internal company documents obtained during discovery reveal emails between Meta executives flagging urgent issues of exploitation. One email to Instagram head Adam Mosseri stated, 'Data shows that Instagram had become the leading two-sided marketplace for human trafficking.' Prosecutors presented evidence of delays and deficiencies in Meta's ability to detect and report child sexual abuse material and trafficking.
The trial also scrutinizes Facebook and Instagram features for their alleged impact on children's mental health, with plaintiffs claiming the platforms are intentionally addictive and amplify content promoting self-harm and body dysmorphia. Meta's defense has rejected the allegations as 'sensationalist, irrelevant and distracting,' arguing it invests heavily in safety features.
Executives including Mosseri and CEO Mark Zuckerberg testified, defending the company's safety record. Mosseri stated, 'We do our best to keep Facebook safe, but we cannot guarantee it.' The lawsuit follows a 2023 Guardian investigation revealing Meta's difficulty in stopping child trafficking on its platforms.
The cases raise existential questions for Meta about protecting younger users while recruiting new ones. Internal emails show Zuckerberg made teens the top priority in 2017, though he denied targeting under-13 users. Child safety advocates highlighted encryption and a backlog in abuse reports as hindering investigations.
Meta faces global regulatory scrutiny, with countries like Australia banning social media for under-16s. The outcomes of the New Mexico and Los Angeles trials could influence lawmakers to impose further restrictions on the company's access to young users.
