New Mexico attorney general sues Meta, alleging child exploitation

Issa Bee is a fictional 13-year-old New Mexico girl invented by investigators with the New Mexico Attorney General’s Office, who created a Facebook account for her in August that rapidly attracted more than 6,700 followers, most of them men ages 18 to 40.

Adult men regularly post messages on her Facebook account “telling Issa they love her and calling her beautiful, sexy, or gorgeous” and often attaching sexually explicit photos. One man offered her $5,000 a week to be his “sugar baby” and urged her to text him.

Issa’s fictitious Facebook account is fully detailed in a lawsuit filed by Attorney General Raúl Torrez, alleging that Facebook and Instagram put underage users at risk of human trafficking and the distribution of sexually explicit images.

The lawsuit was filed Tuesday in 1st Judicial District Court against Meta Platforms Inc., the parent company of Facebook and Instagram, and the company’s founder and CEO, Mark Zuckerberg.

“Meta knowingly exposes children to the twin dangers of sexual exploitation and mental health harm,” the suit alleges. “Meta’s conduct has turned New Mexico children who are on its platforms into victims. Meta’s motive for doing so is profit.”

A Meta spokeswoman said in a written statement that the tech giant utilizes child safety experts and sophisticated technology to root out predators. On Instagram, the company also makes accounts private for those under the age of 16, the statement said.

“In one month alone, we disabled more than half a million accounts for violating our child safety policies,” Meta spokeswoman Nkechi Nneji said. Meta said it also reports sexually explicit conduct to the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children and shares content with law enforcement and state attorneys general to screen out predators.

The suit was filed following a monthslong investigation by the AG’s Office, during which it carried out an undercover investigation of Meta’s social media sites, creating fake accounts of children 14 and younger.

In the case of Issa Bee, investigators developed a Facebook profile for a fictional 40-year-old “bad mother” for Issa. The mother’s profile included information indicating that she “was interested in trafficking her daughter,” the suit said. The site included photos of Issa Bee that clearly showed the girl was underage.

“Within three days of establishing the profile, and without any efforts to promote the account, (the mother’s) account reached its maximum limit of 5,000 Facebook friends and over 3,000 followers,” the suit alleges. Issa reported the group “numerous times to Facebook but it remained active,” the suit alleges. “After Issa’s last report, Facebook merely instructed Issa to leave the group.”

The filing comes as attorneys general in other states have filed lawsuits in both state and federal court against Meta, largely focusing on how the social media giant has created products with addictive features that put children at harm, as well as how Meta has misled the public about the dangers of its social media sites for minors.

Torrez said the suit touches on those same things but looks at a more pointed issue in child exploitation.

“I think most people are aware of the mental health harm that is associated with the use of these platforms (for children),” he said Wednesday in a phone interview. “But I think very few people understand just how prevalent these sexual exploitation issues are and the potential for having children come into contact with very dangerous sexual predators.”

The lawsuit alleges the Menlo Park, California, company violates New Mexico’s Unfair Practices Act, which prohibits deceptive trade practices by companies doing business in the state. The lawsuit asks a judge to order the company to halt its deceptive practices and pay an undisclosed amount in fines and penalties.

Torrez said his office began to consult with experts this past spring on litigation targeting child exploitation as it relates to mental health and privacy issues. But he said in just the past couple of months, his office has focused almost exclusively on the sexual nature of child exploitation.

The lawsuit alleges that Meta misled its consumers about the safety of its platforms, particularly the safety of children, he said.

The suit also alleges that Meta developed specific features that “amplifies and facilitates the connection of vulnerable children to potential predators,” he said.

Asked if the AG’s Office will pursue investigations and lawsuits on other social media platforms, Torrez said the lawsuit against Meta may just be a precursor for what is to come.