A New Mexico judge has denied all of Meta’s motions for summary judgment in a lawsuit alleging the social media giant facilitated child sexual exploitation, clearing the way for a jury trial set to begin next month.
Judge Bryan Biedscheid’s ruling Monday represents a significant legal setback for Meta, which had sought to avoid trial in the case brought by New Mexico Attorney General Raúl Torrez. The trial is scheduled to begin Feb. 2 at the Judge Steve Herrera Judicial Complex in Santa Fe.
“Today is an important step toward justice,” Torrez said in a statement. “Our lawsuit alleges that Meta has misled the public and put children at tremendous risk of sexual exploitation and other serious harms through a series of platform design decisions made by Meta’s executives that introduce children to predators and overwhelm them with dangerous content.”
The lawsuit, filed in December 2023 against Meta Platforms Inc., CEO Mark Zuckerberg and the company’s subsidiaries including Instagram and Facebook, stems from an undercover investigation conducted by the New Mexico Department of Justice.
Investigators created decoy accounts for children age 14 and younger on Meta’s platforms and documented what they described as systematic failures to protect minors. According to the complaint, the platforms proactively served sexually explicit images to underage users, enabled adults to contact and solicit children for pornographic content, and recommended unmoderated groups devoted to commercial sex.
The investigation also found that certain child exploitative content was more than 10 times more prevalent on Facebook and Instagram than on adult content sites Pornhub and OnlyFans, according to the attorney general’s office.
“Mr. Zuckerberg and other Meta executives are aware of the serious harm their products can pose to young users, and yet they have failed to make sufficient changes to their platforms that would prevent the sexual exploitation of children,” Torrez said when the lawsuit was filed.
The undercover investigation resulted in the 2024 arrest of several suspected online predators who later pleaded guilty.
The complaint alleges Meta’s design decisions created what investigators called the largest and most active marketplace in the world for child sexual exploitation and trafficking. The lawsuit also claims Meta’s platforms harm children through addictive design features that degrade mental health, self-worth and physical safety.
Torrez, who said he specialized in internet crimes against children as a prosecutor, accused Meta of prioritizing engagement and advertising revenue over child safety despite repeated assurances to Congress and the public.