Pension and investment funds filed a lawsuit against Meta for “turning a blind eye” to human trafficking and child pornography on its social networks Facebook and Instagram, which have already been accused by the authorities of numerous illegal activities, AFP reported.

“Over the past decade, Meta Apps aided, abetted and facilitated criminals responsible for pimping, human trafficking and child pornography on a large scale on the California group’s platforms,” ​​the complaint, filed Monday in a California court, said. Delaware commercial law.

“Substantial evidence suggests that the board of directors turned a blind eye to this, even though it, like the company’s management, was aware of this growing phenomenon,” lawyers for the underwriting funds that own Meta shares continued.

They say traffickers use the platforms to lure, recruit and exploit victims who are underage and adult Facebook and Instagram users “whose lives are forever ruined.”

Meta “expressly prohibits the exploitation of people and the sexual exploitation of children,” Andy Stone, a spokesman for the social media giant, told AFP on Tuesday.

“The allegations in this complaint do not reflect our efforts to combat this type of activity. Our goal is to prevent people who seek to exploit people from using our platform, and we work closely with organizations like Polaris, the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children and Stop the Traffik,” he added.

But according to the complaint, Meta’s board of directors “failed to explain how it is trying to eradicate the problem,” and the only “logical conclusion” is that “the board of directors deliberately chose to allow Meta’s platforms to promote and facilitate” this kind of traffic.

Mark Zuckerberg’s company is already facing numerous lawsuits in other areas, including the mental health of children and teenagers.

US politicians and child protection associations have accused youth-popular apps like Instagram (as well as YouTube and TikTok) of causing addiction, self-esteem issues or promoting online harassment.

These accusations took on a new dimension when, in the fall of 2021, Frances Haugen, a former Facebook employee, released internal documents that showed that those responsible for the platform were aware of certain risks to minors.

The whistleblower and NGOs believe that Meta puts profits before users. (Photo: Dreamstime)