"The filing lists over 1,800 plaintiffs, ranging from parents to school boards and state attorneys general who all alleged that Meta has engaged in a "broad pattern of deceit" to hide serious harms the company knowingly unleashed on underaged users. There are seven key allegations, each more heinous than the last. In short, the brief alleges that Meta intentionally designed youth safety features to be ineffective, or else completely ignored underaged users' wellbeing in order to prioritize teen engagement - a key pillar for its outsize profits."
"According , which filed a motion to unseal the trial records, Instagram's AI moderation tool deliberately overlooked child sexual abuse and eating disorder content, and the platform was left without an easy way to manually report such abuse, unlike for minor issues like spam. Particularly damning is the allegation that Instagram provided a ludicrous 17 strikes system for accounts caught participating in the "trafficking of humans for sex.""
"The court brief doesn't mince words, arguing that the purposeful quashing - and in some cases outright destruction - of child safety guidelines ran all the way to the top. Per Reuters, which viewed the brief, Meta's billionaire CEO Mark Zuckerberg was keenly aware of the issues as early as 2017, choosing to focus on more trivial things instead. In a text message recovered by the plaintiff's attorneys, for instance, Zuckerberg allegedly said child safety wasn't his top concern "when I have a number of other areas I'm more focused on, like building the metaverse.""
A lawsuit names Meta, TikTok, Google, and Snapchat, with Meta facing the most detailed accusations and over 1,800 plaintiffs including parents, school boards, and state attorneys general. The filing alleges seven major claims asserting that Meta intentionally rendered youth safety features ineffective or ignored underaged users' wellbeing to maximize teen engagement and profits. The complaint describes Instagram's AI moderation as overlooking child sexual abuse and eating disorder content and lacking easy manual reporting for severe abuse, while imposing an alleged 17-strike system for trafficking violations. The brief alleges that suppression and destruction of child safety guidelines reached top executives, including Mark Zuckerberg, who reportedly deprioritized child safety in favor of projects like the metaverse.
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