On Wednesday, New Mexico’s Attorney General held a press conference to announce a series of arrests tied to a New Mexico Department of Justice initiative to protect children from predators online.
New Mexico Attorney General Raúl Torrez said that the initiative, called Operation MetaPhile, led to the arrests of three men in New Mexico, who were allegedly using platforms owned by Meta to solicit inappropriate content from children.
“In each instance, the individuals who have been identified in the course of this operation were able to find and locate these children through the designed features and the algorithm that’s specifically set forth underneath these platforms, that guides the connections that are made in each of these platforms,” Torrez said. “I think it exhibits the extraordinary level of danger that everyone should understand exists in these spaces.”
Meta, the social media conglomerate that owns Facebook, Instagram, and Whatsapp, was sued last year by the New Mexico Department of Justice for what Attorney General Torrez said was a failure by the company to prevent the sexual exploitation of children.
“Mark Zuckerberg is responsible for this. The Meta executives are responsible for this. And while we can do what we are able to do as law enforcement professionals, to try and safeguard the community, ultimately it is their responsibility to make sure that the products that they are putting out into the world are safe for everyone to use.”
That lawsuit between the New Mexico Department of Justice and Meta is ongoing, and Attorney General Torrez said his office would continue operations aimed at rooting out individuals that attempt to exploit children online.
Resources from the New Mexico Attorney General’s Office about how to keep kids safe online can be found here: https://nmdoj.gov/get-help/internet-protection-safety/
