Pension and investment funds have filed a complaint against Meta for having “turned a blind eye” to human trafficking and pedocrime on their social networks Facebook and Instagram, already accused of many evils by the authorities.
“Over the last decade, Meta’s applications have helped, supported and facilitated the work of criminals responsible for pimping, human trafficking and pedocrime that have occurred on a large scale on the platforms” of the Californian group, the complaint accuses. presented this Monday in a Delaware Court specializing in commercial law.
Live “always devastated”
They claim that traffickers use the platforms to lure, recruit, and exploit victims, who are underage and adult users of Facebook and Instagram, “whose lives are forever devastated.”
“The statements in this complaint do not reflect our efforts to combat this type of activity. Our goal is to prevent people who seek to exploit humans from using our platform, and we work closely with organizations like Polaris, the National Center for Disappeared and Exploited Children and Stop Traffic”, he added.
But according to the complaint, the Meta board “failed to explain how it seeks to eradicate the problem,” and the only “logical conclusion” is that “the board consciously chose to allow Meta platforms to promote and facilitate this traffic.”
Numerous lawsuits against the group.
Mark Zuckerberg’s group is already facing numerous lawsuits in other areas, including child and adolescent mental health.
US elected officials and child protection associations accuse applications particularly popular among young people such as Instagram (but also YouTube or TikTok) of causing addiction, self-esteem problems or facilitating online bullying.
These allegations took on a new dimension when, in the fall of 2021, former Facebook employee Frances Haugen leaked internal documents showing that the platform’s leaders were aware of certain risks to minors.
The whistleblower and NGOs believe that Meta puts profits before users.
Source: BFM TV
