Mark Zuckerberg, Meta’s chief executive, is being asked to respond to the “extraordinary” number of cases in which the company’s social media platforms are used to facilitate human trafficking in Florida.
It follows revelations this week that Meta’s platforms – Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp – were used to facilitate human trafficking in 146 of the 271 reported cases of social media platforms being used by traffickers to commit their crimes in Florida, between 2019 and 2022.
Human trafficking is defined as the use of force, fraud or coercion to obtain labour or a commercial sex act from a person.
The numbers were obtained through a statewide survey of its law enforcement agencies that documented which social media platforms are used to assist, facilitate or support human trafficking.
“The results were extraordinary,” said Florida’s attorney general, Ashley Moody. “To put this number in perspective, after Meta platforms, the next highest social media platform used in human trafficking was Snapchat, and it was utilised 19 times, seven times less than Meta platforms.”
She added that the survey found Meta’s platforms were used to recruit victims, as well as in trafficking operations and to control victims, and called the situation a “public safety threat”.
A two-year Guardian investigation, published in April, suggested that Meta is struggling to prevent criminals from using its platforms to buy and sell children for sex, and that Messenger, Facebook’s private message platform, is being used by traffickers for buying and selling children.
“Zuckerberg should be working to make Meta’s existing platforms safer for users and to prevent vulnerable people from being forced into illicit sex work,” said Moody.
“The findings of our statewide survey and other reports make it clear that Meta platforms are the preferred social media applications for human traffickers looking to prey on vulnerable people,” she said.
Moody sent a letter inviting Zuckerberg to testify before Florida’s Statewide Council on Human Trafficking about Meta’s plans to prevent human traffickers from using its platforms. The letter has asked Zuckerberg for a response by 5 September.
In June, Meta announced it had set up a taskforce to investigate Instagram’s role in the distribution and sale of child sexual-abuse material.
A Meta spokesperson said: “We prohibit all forms of human exploitation in no uncertain terms, and we work aggressively to fight these abhorrent crimes on and off our platforms.
“The claims in this press release inaccurately depict our efforts to remove this kind of illegal activity and work with law enforcement so that the criminals behind it can be arrested and prosecuted. In fact, the group director of intelligence at Stop the Traffik has said ‘millions are safer and traffickers are increasingly frustrated’ because of our work.
“We will continue to inform and partner with the state attorneys general on these critical matters.”
