Two families filed suit against Meta on Wednesday, alleging the company neglected the growing threat of sexual blackmail targeting teens on Instagram after their sons died by suicide.
The wrongful death lawsuit, filed by Tricia Maciejewski and by Rosalind and Mark Downey, claims the families, from Pennsylvania and Scotland, lost their sons after both fell victim to similar sextortion scams on Instagram.
The suit alleges strangers posed as romantic interests, obtained intimate photos, then threatened to expose the images unless the teens complied with further demands or paid money.
The families allege the deaths of their sons "were the foreseeable result of Meta's design decisions and repeated refusals to implement affordable, available, and identified safety features due to Meta's prioritization of engagement over user safety."
Maciejewski's 13-year-old son died by suicide in 2024, the lawsuit says, after falling victim to a sextortion scheme two days after creating an Instagram account.
The Downeys' 16-year-old son also took his own life in 2023 after facing sexual blackmail on the platform, according to the complaint.
Attorneys for the families say they plan to use newly released Meta internal records to bolster their case. The families allege Meta was aware its recommendation system could connect children with potential predators and failed to take sufficient measures to address the risk.
"This was known," Matthew Bergman, the families' lead attorney, said in an interview.
"This was not an accident. This was not a coincidence."
"This was a foreseeable consequence of the deliberate design decisions that Meta made," Bergman said.
"Their own documents show that they were very aware of this extortion phenomenon, and they simply chose to put their profits over the safety of young people," he added.
Meta did not address the specific allegations in a statement Wednesday but said it is working with authorities to help prosecute those behind sextortion.
"We work to prevent accounts showing suspicious behavior from following teens and avoid recommending teens to them," Meta said.
"We also take other precautionary steps, like blurring potentially sensitive images sent in [direct messages] DMs and reminding teens of the risks of sharing them, and letting people know when they're chatting to someone who may be in a different country," the company added in its statement.
James Morley III ✉
James Morley III is a writer with more than two decades of experience in entertainment, travel, technology, and science and nature.
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