Are Meta Platforms Safe For Our Children?

Recently, some internal Meta documents surfaced online. The documents revealed that approximately 100,000 children on Meta platforms receive online sexual harassment daily. Children using Facebook and Instagram receive crude messaging, harassment, and in some cases pictures of adult genitalia. The point worth mentioning here is that the legal reports contain several allegations by the internal Meta staff against the company. This is quite alarming. Isn’t it? It seems as if these social media platforms have become marketplaces for child predators.

Internal Meta documents reveal child sexual harassment problem on its platforms

In a significant development, a lawsuit was initiated by the New Mexico Attorney-General’s office on December 5.  It alleges Meta’s social networks have become marketplaces for child predators. Raúl Torrez, the state’s Attorney-General, has accused Meta of promoting child grooming which Meta has denied. Meta states:

“It mischaracterizes our work using selective quotes and cherry-picked documents”.

The unsealed legal documents include different complaints which makes Meta guilty. There is the story of a 12-year-old daughter of an Apple executive who was summoned via Instagram direct messages. However, Meta employee stated in the documented communications:

“This is the kind of thing that pisses Apple off to the extent of threatening to remove us from the App Store”

In another case, a senior Meta employee described how his child had been solicited on Instagram in testimony to the US Congress late last year. Furthermore, he claimed that his efforts to fix these problems were neglected. Meta denied all these allegations and released a statement in response to legal filings, claiming all platforms are well-monitored.

“We want teens to have safe, age-appropriate experiences online, and we have over 30 tools to support them and their parents. We’ve spent a decade working on these issues and hiring people who have dedicated their careers to keeping young people safe and supported online.”

Several investigations have disclosed Meta’s failure to report or detect the use of its platforms for child trafficking. The investigation also found that Messenger is used as a platform for child sex traffickers. Several proofs support these allegations but still Meta is denying all these facts. Let’s see for how long will Meta deny these accusations. However, the concern arises here is that our children are not safe on these platforms. So, parents should keep a check on their children who use these platforms regularly or convince them to stop using these social platforms.