Update: A court has ruled that Mark Zuckerberg cannot be held personally liable for claims that Meta sought to make its apps addictive to children. Lawyers will be able to re-file, this time claiming against Meta rather than Zuckerberg.
Two separate reports today accuse Instagram and Facebook parent company Meta of ignoring reports of parents sexually exploiting their own children for financial gain using paid subscription tools …
Meta’s Facebook and Instagram don’t allow children below the age of 13 to have their own accounts. However, the company does permit “parent-managed minor accounts” in which younger children can have a presence on the apps – including the option to sell paid content to adults.
Separate paywalled reports by The New York Times and The Wall Street Journal say that this feature is being abused by parents to sexually exploit their children. The Verge summarizes the allegations.
Several of the “parent-managed minor accounts” investigated sold materials to their large audiences of adult men, including photos of their children in revealing attire, exclusive chat sessions, and their children’s used leotards and cheer outfits.
According to The Wall Street Journal, while these parent-run accounts don’t feature illegal content or nudity, staff at Meta discovered that some parents were knowingly producing material of their children that pedophiles would find sexually gratifying. This included parents having sexually charged conversations about their own children and making them interact with sexual messages sent by subscribers. Meta staff also were allegedly aware that the company’s algorithms promoted subscriptions for accounts that feature child models to suspected pedophiles and that some parents offered additional content of their children on other platforms.
This builds on previous reports that Instagram had a problem with adult men seeking inappropriate photos of children.
Staff raised concerns about a number of these parent-managed accounts, but the company reportedly failed to take action. Meta did not respond to a request for comment by The Verge.
Zuckerberg fights personal liability in lawsuits
Separately, Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg is arguing that he cannot be held personally liable for lawsuits accusing the company of deliberately seeking to get children addicted to its apps.
Hundreds of lawsuits have been filed against Meta and other social media companies, and a judge ruled late last year that these should be allowed to proceed.
However, some have sued Zuckerberg personally, as the man in charge of policy-making, and Bloomberg reports that he is now seeking to have these cases dismissed.
Mark Zuckerberg is seeking to avoid being held personally liable in two dozen lawsuits accusing Meta Platforms Inc. and other social media companies of addicting children to their products.
The Meta chief executive officer is set to make his case at a hearing Friday in California federal court. A ruling in Zuckerberg’s favor would dismiss him as a personal defendant in the litigation with no impact on the allegations against Meta.
Photo by Ben Hershey on Unsplash
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