Meta Knowingly Let Strangers Contact Children Through Recommendation Algorithm

Unredacted court documents filed January 17, 2024 show Meta executives and employees recognized in 2020 that the "people you may know" feature on Instagram and Facebook created pathways for adults to solicit minors—yet the company continued operating it. The disclosures emerged in New Mexico's lawsuit, the first state-level standalone prosecution targeting a social platform specifically for child sexual exploitation. The documents detail Meta's internal awareness of predatory contact patterns and content sexualizing minors circulating on its platforms.