In a recent development, New Mexico Attorney General Ral Torrez has initiated legal proceedings against Meta, its founder Mark Zuckerberg, and its subsidiaries.
The lawsuit accuses Facebook and Instagram, both owned by Meta, of deliberately exposing minors to the dual threats of sexual exploitation and mental health damage. The lawsuit highlights the use of the term "cheese pizza" as a common euphemism for child pornography on these platforms.
The legal document, filed in the First Judicial District Court of New Mexico, asserts, "Metas platforms Facebook and Instagram are a breeding ground for predators who target children for human trafficking, the distribution of sexual images, grooming, and solicitation. Teens and preteens can easily register for unrestricted accounts because of a lack of age verification. When they do, Meta directs harmful and inappropriate material at them. It allows unconnected adults to have unfettered access to them, which those adults use for grooming and solicitation."
The lawsuit further alleges that despite warnings from both internal and external sources over the years, Meta has failed to curb the flow of damaging sexual content and sexual propositions aimed at children.
An investigation conducted by the Attorney Generals Office has reportedly uncovered that Meta has been serving sexually explicit content to minors through its recommendation algorithm. The company has also been accused of enabling adults to locate and interact with minors for the purpose of selling explicit photos or involving them in pornographic videos. The lawsuit also claims that Meta has hosted unregulated user-run groups dedicated to child pornography and failed to detect a fictitious mother offering her 13-year-old child for trafficking.
The lawsuit points out that numerous Instagram accounts, which provide links to child pornography on secondary platforms, often feature bios stating "All New Kids Links Available." Many of these accounts include the word "pizza" in their usernames. The lawsuit states, "Notably, 'cheese pizza,' with its shared initials, is known to be a proxy for child pornography."
These accounts reportedly display fully nude or scantily dressed young children in sexual poses, along with text discussing the pricing of the content and links to purchase it through encrypted platforms like Telegram or WhatsApp.
During the investigation, an Instagram account was created for a fictitious 13-year-old girl. The account was able to follow accounts linked to child pornography, with usernames such as 'pizza' seller or links, 'little-girls,' or 'young_girl_sell.' The account was also followed by a similar set of sexually themed groups.
The investigators also created a Facebook account for another fictitious 13-year-old girl. This account was suggested sexually explicit accounts to follow and was served sexually explicit content through the hashtag 13-year-olds.
The investigation revealed that Instagram uses restrictions on hashtags that can be easily circumvented, allowing users to tag their posts or profiles with specific terms, even if they were blocked.
The lawsuit states, "The sale of CSAM is open and brazen. Account after account on Instagram transparently offered their merchandise." In response to these allegations, Elon Musk, owner of X, questioned Disney CEO Bob Iger, whose company had withdrawn advertising from his platform following accusations of antisemitism against Musk, about his continued advertising on Meta platforms. Musk asked, "Why does Bob Eager advertise on Meta, but boycott X? Real question."
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