Mark Zuckerberg built a social media empire that made him one of the richest men on the planet.
But his fortune came at a horrifying cost to America's children.
And court documents exposed Mark Zuckerberg's cover-up of this nightmare that Meta created.
Meta's Own Researcher Warned of 500,000 Daily Child Victims
Explosive court documents unsealed ahead of a jury trial in New Mexico dropped a bombshell on Mark Zuckerberg's Meta empire.
Malia Andrus, a top Meta researcher who held child safety roles from 2017 to 2024, sent an internal email in June 2020 warning executives that creeps targeted roughly 500,000 victims per day in English-speaking markets alone.
"We expect the true situation is worse," Andrus wrote.
"I just think, nowhere in the history of humanity could you have a secret conversation with 1000 people," she stated.
"I'm actually scared of the ramifications here."
New Mexico's lawsuit claims Meta knowingly exposed kids to "the twin dangers of sexual exploitation and mental health harm" through sextortion schemes and human trafficking.
Opening arguments began Monday, and prosecutors showed a company that chose profits over protecting children.
Meta's Age Verification System Was A Complete Joke
The documents reveal Meta's age verification tools were worthless at keeping predators away from children.
Andrus ripped the company's age prediction technology in internal emails.
"Our investigators have given feedback that almost every time they encounter an age liar on IG (in a child safety context) the age prediction is incorrect (aligns with the age they falsely claim to be)," Andrus wrote.
Predators lied about being 13, and Meta's systems believed them every time.
According to court filings, Instagram had a "17x" strike policy for accounts trafficking humans for sex.
That means it would take at least 16 reports before Meta would delete an account engaged in sex trafficking.
Instagram made it easy to report "spam" but didn't offer users a simple way to report child sexual abuse material.
When safety executive Vaishnavi Jayakumar raised this problem after joining Meta in 2020, she was told it would be "too difficult" to address.
Internal Emails Show Zuckerberg Knew And Did Nothing
New Mexico prosecutors told the jury they'll present internal communications from Mark Zuckerberg and Instagram head Adam Mosseri showing Meta prioritized profits over safety.
The communications prove Zuckerberg knew about widespread platform use by children under 13, contradicting his public statements.
"The actions of these two individuals demonstrate their prioritization of growth and engagement over safety," said state attorney Donald Migliori.
New Mexico can't compel out-of-state witnesses to testify in person, but prosecutors can present testimony from Zuckerberg's deposition.
Meta is hiding behind Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act, claiming it can't be held liable for content users post.
But prosecutors aren't going after user content.
They're targeting Meta's deliberate design features and algorithms that created a "breeding ground" for predators targeting children.
Meta's own AI tools detected content violating policies against child sexual abuse material with "100% confidence" but didn't automatically delete it.
A 2021 internal Meta survey found more than 8% of users aged 13 to 15 reported seeing someone harm themselves or threaten to do so on Instagram during the previous week.
Meta's Response Rings Hollow
Meta claims it's committed to protecting kids.
The company said the 500,000 figure doesn't represent actual victims because their measurement technology "used an overly wide and cautious set of criteria."
That excuse falls apart when you look at the numbers.
In 2023 alone, there were nearly 36 million reported cases of online child sexual abuse material.
A staggering 31 million — 85% — came from Meta platforms.
That's a 93% increase from Meta's 16 million reports in 2019.
Zuckerberg testified to Congress in January 2024 and told parents: "I'm sorry for everything that you have all gone through."
He promised Meta would "continue doing industry-leading efforts to make sure that no one has to go through the types of things that your families have had to suffer."
Those words mean nothing now that internal documents show his researchers warned him about 500,000 daily victims years earlier.
The jury will decide whether Zuckerberg's apologies mean anything or if Meta deliberately sacrificed children's safety for billions in profits.
Sources:
- Thomas Barrabi, "Meta researcher warned execs that 500K kids 'per DAY' were targeted by creeps on Instagram, Facebook: bombshell docs," New York Post, February 9, 2026.
- "Meta researcher warned of 500K child exploitation cases daily on Facebook and Instagram platforms," Fox Business, February 9, 2026.
- "Lawsuit: Meta allowed sex-trafficking posts on Instagram as it put profit over kids' safety," Mercury News, November 28, 2025.
- "The Allegations Against Meta in Newly Unsealed Court Filings," Time, November 23, 2025.
- "Trial against Meta in New Mexico focuses on dangers of child sexual exploitation on social media," Associated Press, February 9, 2026.
- "New lawsuits against TikTok mirror those against Big Tobacco and Purdue Pharma," Business Insider, October 14, 2024.
