Jury selection is set to begin on Feb. 2 in a trial brought by the state of New Mexico, accusing Meta Platforms—Facebook’s parent company—of exposing minors to sexual exploitation on its online platforms.

It is the first case in which a jury will decide the fate of a lawsuit of this kind brought against one of the world’s largest social media companies.

New Mexico Attorney General Raúl Torrez accused Meta of promoting and profiting from illegal content that allowed for the sexual exploitation of children and teens on the company’s Facebook, Instagram, and WhatsApp platforms. Predators were able to get unlimited access to minors and victimize them, in some cases leading to physical abuse and human trafficking, the lawsuit alleges.

Jury selection will begin Monday morning in a state trial court in Santa Fe, New Mexico, and the trial is expected to take seven or eight weeks.

Torrez’s office launched an undercover operation into Meta in 2023, which involved investigators making new accounts on Instagram and Facebook purporting to be users aged under 14 years. Adult-aged predators sent sexually explicit material to the accounts and contacted the account holders asking for related content, which culminated in criminal charges against three individuals, the state attorney general’s office said.

The lawsuit accuses Meta of tailoring its platforms to prioritize user engagement, even though evidence has shown that practice has a negative psychological impact on minors. For example, the apps deploy infinite scrolling and self-playing videos that keep children hooked, leading to addiction, depression, anxiety, and self-harm, the lawsuit alleges.

New Mexico is pursuing monetary damages against Meta and an order directing the company to improve child safety on its platforms.

Meta Denies Allegations

Before the beginning of the trial, a Meta spokesperson called the state’s arguments “sensationalist, irrelevant, and distracting” and suggested they resulted from cherry-picked documents.

“For over a decade, we’ve listened to parents, worked with experts and law enforcement, and conducted in-depth research to understand the issues that matter most,” the spokesperson said in a statement. ”We’re proud of the progress we’ve made, and we’re always working to do better.”

Meta asserts that the First Amendment of the U.S. Constitution and Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act, which typically shields websites from civil liability for harm caused by content posted by third parties on their platforms, protects the company from liability in the case.

Meta claims the lawsuit’s accusations of harm are inseparable from the content posted on its apps, as the tech behemoth’s algorithms and designs are intended to publish content.

A spokesperson for the state’s Justice Department said New Mexico is looking forward to arguing the case in court, where it can “present the jury with documents and testimony gathered over more than two years of litigation.”

Other Allegations of Child Safety Issues

This is not the first time that Meta has been accused of flouting child safety on its platforms.

Last year, a number of U.S. senators called for a congressional investigation into the company after Reuters reported that it had viewed an internal Meta policy document detailing policies on chatbot behavior that permitted the technology to “engage a child in conversations that are romantic or sensual,” generate incorrect medical information, and assist users in arguing that black people are “dumber than white people.”

Although Meta confirmed the authenticity of the document, the company said it removed the passages that stated the chatbot is allowed to flirt or participate in romantic roleplay with children.

Sen. Josh Hawley (R-Mo.) criticized the company for allegedly only making the changes after being questioned by Reuters.

“So, only after Meta got CAUGHT did it retract portions of its company doc that deemed it ‘permissible for chatbots to flirt and engage in romantic roleplay with children,’” Hawley wrote on social media. “This is grounds for an immediate congressional investigation.”

Reuters contributed to this report.