"Facebook and Instagram ran content sexualizing minors next to corporate ads, lawsuit says", 10 Jan 2024

Facebook and Instagram have been profiting from placing corporate adverts from companies such as Walmart and Match Group next to content potentially promoting child sexual exploitation, a legal filing alleges.

The accusation is the latest in an explosive lawsuit initiated in December by Raúl Torrez, the New Mexico attorney general, against Meta claiming the company “enabled adults to find, message and groom minors” for sexual exploitation. The suit follows a Guardian investigation...which revealed that the tech giant is struggling to prevent people from using its platforms to buy and sell children for sex.

“New evidence indicates Meta officials are duping corporate advertisers and permitting sponsored content to appear alongside deeply disturbing images and videos that clearly violate Meta’s promised standards,” said Torrez...

The legal complaint...quotes correspondence among Meta, Walmart and Match, the owner of the dating apps Tinder and Hinge. The advertisers objected to their material being placed next to graphic and potentially illegal content, according to the filing...

In response to the filing, Walmart said in a statement: “We take brand safety issues extremely seriously, and protecting our customers and communities will always be a top priority.”

Meta and Match did not respond to request for comment by press time...

Before filing the lawsuit, investigators at the New Mexico attorney general’s office conducted their own investigation into child sexual exploitation taking place on Meta’s platforms. According to the lawsuit, they “found numerous posts and accounts on Instagram that depicted or promoted choking, slapping, tying up, engaging in sex with, and otherwise abusing little girls”.

...[A]ll of the images and videos the investigators found were reported to Meta. According to the suit, the company removed only half of the reported images.

“Investigators found that content that was removed frequently reappeared or that Meta recommended alternative, equally problematic content to users – demonstrating...that Meta is capable of identifying this content but incapable of effectively dealing with it,” the lawsuit states.