Unredacted complaint alleges Meta knew of ‘huge volume' of child sexual harassment on its platforms

A new legal filing alleges a 2021 internal estimate found as many as 100,000 children every day received sexual harassment on Facebook and Instagram. The filing is part of a complaint by the attorney general of New Mexico in an ongoing lawsuit against the company over steps to protect children online.

A spokesperson for the company responded, stating that the complaint mischaracterizes their work. The filing reveals that a company chat from 2020 discussed child grooming on TikTok, with one employee stating child safety was not a goal. Additionally, Meta executives faced complaints from an Apple executive whose child was solicited on Facebook.

The company claims to have fixed many of the identified issues, disabling over half a million accounts for violating child safety policies in one month. However, the lawsuit alleges that Facebook and Instagram failed to protect underage users from predators, as the company prioritized engagement and advertising growth over child safety. Meta founder Mark Zuckerberg is named as a defendant.