近距离内射合集

Jury selection is set to begin Monday in a trial that pits New Mexico against Meta, the parent company of Facebook and Instagram and one of the world鈥檚 largest social media companies.

New Mexico鈥檚 legal challenge differs from thousands of other lawsuits filed against social media companies across the country by focusing on what the lawsuit argues is Meta鈥檚 failure to protect young people from sexual exploitation.

The complaint alleges that Meta 鈥渒nowingly exposes children to the twin dangers of sexual exploitation and mental health harm.鈥�

New Mexico Attorney General Ra煤l Torrez filed the suit against Meta Platforms and its CEO, Mark Zuckerberg, in 2023, alleging the parent company of Facebook and Instagram failed to protect children from sexual abuse, online solicitation and human trafficking.

鈥淢eta鈥檚 platforms Facebook and Instagram are a breeding ground for predators who target children for human trafficking, the distribution of sexual images, grooming, and solicitation,鈥� the suit alleges.

The trial before Judge Bryan Biedscheid in 1st Judicial District Court in Santa Fe is expected to last six weeks.

Torrez began his career as an internet crimes prosecutor who attempted to stop child solicitation and child exploitation, he recently told members of the Albuquerque Economic Forum.

鈥淲hen I began doing that work in the early part of my career, people who were engaged in child exploitation had to go to the darkest corners of the internet to find that material,鈥� Torrez said. 鈥淭he predators that I used to target when I was a young prosecutor have now migrated to the biggest platforms on the planet.鈥�

New Mexico brought the suit under the state鈥檚 Unfair Practices Act, which prohibits deceptive trade practices. The law requires the state to prove that Meta knowingly made false or misleading representations about the safety of its products.

Meta鈥檚 response

Meta argued in court records that it can鈥檛 be held liable for content shared by third-party users and that its practices are protected under Section 230 of the federal Communications Decency Act, 鈥渁s courts nationwide have held.鈥�

Congress passed Section 230 in 1996 to provide immunity from liability to online computer services for third-party content created by users. The law has been interpreted by courts to shield social media companies from liability as a 鈥減ublisher鈥� of material posted by users.

鈥淢eta condemns all forms of sex trafficking and child exploitation,鈥� the company wrote in a motion seeking to dismiss the suit. 鈥淏ut there is no legal basis for the State鈥檚 claims seeking to hold Meta liable for displaying content created and shared by third parties.鈥�

States and individuals across the U.S. have filed thousands of lawsuits in state and federal courts against Meta and other social media companies, alleging the platforms are designed to lure young users into compulsive use, resulting in mental health problems.

Jury selection began last week in a state court in Los Angeles against Meta, YouTube, Snap and TikTok in which plaintiffs鈥� lawyers argue that social media is designed to be addictive, resulting in self-harm to users. Snap and TikTok have settled, but Meta and YouTube plan to fight the allegations.

Judge Biedscheid on Monday rejected Meta鈥檚 request to bar video and audio streaming of the trial. Meta's request had argued streaming the trial would put its employees at risk and hinder the company鈥檚 right to a fair trial in other cases.

Like the other lawsuits, New Mexico鈥檚 suit alleges that Meta platforms are addictive and harmful to teens, but it differs from many other suits by arguing that Facebook and Instagram are infested with sexual predators drawn to profiles created by teens and pre-teens.

鈥淏y their own account, Meta reports internally that 100,000 children a day ... are exposed to sexually explicit material or otherwise targeted for sexual exploitation just on their platform,鈥� Torrez said at the Economic Forum.

 New Mexico lawsuit

Torrez described the suit as 鈥渙ne of the most aggressive lawsuits against Meta鈥� in the nation and the first state-filed lawsuit to come to trial.

In preparing the suit, investigators created fictitious Facebook and Instagram accounts, including those for boys and girls in their early teens, complete with photos. One such account was promoted as being created by 鈥淚ssa Bee,鈥� a fictitious girl about 13 years of age, who 鈥減osted pictures of herself with signs of physical abuse.鈥�

Issa 鈥渁lso has suggested she has been trafficked by friends and relatives,鈥� the suit said. It alleges that Facebook 鈥渘ever alerted the account to authorities.鈥� Issa鈥檚 profile quickly garnered 5,000 friends and 6,700 followers, most of them males ages 18-40.

鈥淭here is post after post from adult men, per their profile pictures, telling Issa they love her and calling her beautiful, sexy, or gorgeous,鈥� the suit said. Facebook did not attempt to screen adult men or prevent them from sending her messages, it contends.

鈥淕iven its popularity, Facebook solicited Issa to set up a professional account, providing marketing outlooks and strategy suggestions from Meta on growing the account and her followers,鈥� the suit alleges.

鈥淭eens and preteens can easily register for unrestricted accounts because of a lack of age verification,鈥� it alleges. 鈥淲hen they do, Meta directs harmful and inappropriate material at them.鈥�

Olivier Uyttebrouck covers courts for the Journal. You can reach him at olivier@abqjournal.com.