Parents of sextortion victim sue Meta, accusing the social media giant of putting profits and engagement ahead of children’s safety — with fatal consequences. Lawsuits unsealed Wednesday allege that Meta Platforms Inc. and its Instagram app knowingly connected child users with adult sexual predators, leading to the suicides of two boys, one in Scotland and one in the United States.

The cases, filed in California and Delaware courts, were brought by Rosalind and Mark Dowey, whose 16-year-old son from Scotland is identified as M.D., and Tricia Maciejewski, the parent of L.M., a 13-year-old boy from Pennsylvania. The parents say their children were “sextorted” after being targeted through Instagram’s recommendation tools.

Allegations of Longstanding Knowledge

According to the complaints, Meta knew as early as 2019 that Instagram was recommending children’s accounts to adult predators, yet failed to act. Newly unsealed filings contend that internal analyses warned executives the platform was facilitating dangerous connections but that the company chose growth over safety.

Central to the lawsuit is Instagram’s AI-driven “Accounts You May Follow” feature, designed to boost user engagement. The parents allege a 2019 Meta analysis estimated about 3.5 million profiles were seeking “inappropriate interactions with children.”

By 2023, Meta’s own estimates allegedly showed that nearly 2 million children’s accounts were recommended to adult predators in just three months, with 22% of those recommendations leading to follow requests.

Safety Fixes Rejected, Suit Claims

The parents argue Meta could have adopted straightforward safeguards — such as making teen accounts private by default or blocking direct messages from adult strangers — but instead rejected those options to protect engagement metrics.

Rather than leaning on engineers to implement safety-first changes, the complaint says, Meta turned to its growth team, which concluded that a private-by-default policy could cost the platform 1.5 million monthly active teen users per year.

A Pattern With Deadly Consequences

The lawsuits say both boys were approached by adults posing as young girls, persuaded to send sexually explicit images and then blackmailed with threats to distribute the material to friends and family.

Both M.D. and L.M. died by suicide after the alleged extortion, their parents say, linking the tragedy directly to Instagram’s recommendation system.

The complaints also accuse Meta of compounding the harm once sextortion began. Parents allege reporting systems were ineffective and that the company sometimes failed to remove reported child sexual abuse material for days.

Wide-Ranging Legal Claims

The lawsuits assert claims including product liability for design defects, failure to warn, negligence, fraudulent concealment or misrepresentation, intentional infliction of emotional distress, unjust enrichment, invasion of privacy and wrongful death.

The parents seek unspecified damages, along with litigation costs and attorney fees.

“A Hunting Ground for Predators”

“Meta’s secret is out,” said Matthew P. Bergman, founding attorney of the Social Media Victims Law Center, in a statement Wednesday. “For years, Meta knew Instagram was a hunting ground for predators, yet chose to protect engagement metrics over children’s lives.”

He said the decision to connect strangers with children has turned Instagram into “the epicenter of sextortion-related youth suicides,” adding that internal safety recommendations could have saved lives.

Meta Responds

In a statement Wednesday, a Meta spokesperson called sextortion a “horrific crime” and said the company supports law enforcement efforts to prosecute offenders.

The spokesperson said that since 2021, Instagram has placed teens under 16 into private accounts by default, requiring approval for new followers. Meta also said it works to block suspicious accounts from following teens, blurs potentially sensitive images in direct messages, warns users about sharing such content and notifies people when they may be chatting with someone in another country.

Legal Teams

The parents are represented by Joseph J. Rhoades and Stephen T. Morrow of Rhoades & Morrow LLC, along with Matthew P. Bergman and Laura Marquez-Garrett of the Social Media Victims Law Center PLLC.

Counsel information for Meta and Instagram was not immediately available.

As the cases move forward, the lawsuits cast Instagram not as a neutral platform but, the parents argue, as an engine that quietly fueled tragedy by design.