Meta, the parent company of Facebook and Instagram, has lost a multimillion-pound legal battle after failing to prevent the sale of children on its platforms. The case stemmed from a Guardian investigation that uncovered evidence of child sex trafficking facilitated through the company's services.
The investigation began in 2021 when a source alerted journalist to a surge in child sexual abuse trafficking in the US during the Covid pandemic. Predators were using Facebook and Instagram to buy and sell children, often in non-public areas such as Facebook Messenger and private Instagram accounts.
Journalists reviewed federal court records and Department of Justice press releases, finding transcripts of sale negotiations for teen girls on Facebook Messenger and images of victims advertised on Instagram Stories. In all cases found, Meta had not detected or flagged the crimes.
Former content moderators for Facebook and Instagram told the investigators that their efforts to report possible child trafficking often went nowhere, and harmful content was rarely removed. They believed Meta's criteria for escalating crimes to law enforcement were too narrow.
The case was supported by evidence from Tina Frundt, a trafficking survivor who runs a safe house for teen girls. She demonstrated how traffickers used Instagram Stories to advertise girls for sex, and described how a 15-year-old girl she cared for was trafficked after being contacted on Instagram by a sex buyer.
