Unredacted complaint alleges Meta estimated up to 100,000 children per day sexually harassed on company platforms

• A new legal filing alleges a 2021 Meta internal estimate found as many as 100,000 children every day received sexual harassment on Facebook and Instagram.
• The filing is part of a complaint by the attorney general of New Mexico in an ongoing lawsuit against Meta over the company's steps to protect children online.
• "The complaint mischaracterizes our work using selective quotes and cherry-picked documents," a Meta spokesperson said.

WASHINGTON — A new legal filing about child exploitation on Meta's Facebook and Instagram apps alleges a 2021 internal company estimate found as many as 100,000 children every day received sexual harassment, such as pictures of adult genitalia, on the platforms.

This was revealed in newly unredacted portions of a complaint from the attorney general of New Mexico in an ongoing lawsuit against the social media giant over the company's steps to protect children online as the platforms exploded in popularity with young people. 

Also included in the complaint is a description of a 2020 Meta internal company chat, in which one employee asked a colleague: "What specifically are we doing for child grooming (something I just heard about that is happening a lot on TikTok)?"

"Somewhere between zero and negligible," the colleague responded. "Child safety is an explicit non-goal this half."

That same year, Meta executives scrambled to respond to a complaint from an executive at Apple, whose 12-year-old child was solicited on Facebook, according to the newly unredacted filing.

"This is the kind of thing that pisses Apple off to the extent of threatening to remove us from the App store," a Meta employee told his colleagues. The same employee also asked when, "we'll stop adults from messaging minors on