According to a new lawsuit filed against Facebook parent company Meta this week, the social media giant and its leaders have turned a blind eye to sex trafficking and child exploitation on its platforms.

The suit, which was filed by several investment funds holding Meta stock, claims that the company hasn’t done enough to stop these issues despite “systemic evidence” of criminal activity on Facebook and Instagram. Even worse, these shareholders claim that the company and its executives have deliberately ignored the problem.

“The only logical inference is that the board has consciously decided to permit Meta’s platforms to promote and facilitate sex/human trafficking,” the suit claimed.

Not surprisingly, Facebook has vigorously denied these claims, saying that they “mischaracterize” the company’s work fighting sex trafficking.

“We prohibit human exploitation and child sexual exploitation in no uncertain terms,” Facebook said in a statement in response to the suit. “The claims in this lawsuit mischaracterize our efforts to combat this type of activity. Our goal is to prevent people who seek to exploit others from using our platform.”

While these are bold claims to lob at Facebook, there’s no denying the company directly profits from harmful and troubling content on its platforms. Even if it has strict rules against it, questions will always remain about how Facebook handles this issue.

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