ROCK HILL, S.C. (CN2 NEWS) – South Carolina State House Representative, Brandon Guffey, is continuing his fight against sexual extortion with a lawsuit against Meta.
Meta, the parent company behind social media sites Facebook, Instagram, and WhatsApp, and tech executives from five major social media platforms will be testifying about their company’s work to protect children from online sexual exploitation.
CN2’s Zane Cina catch up with State House Representative Brandon Guffey just before his departure to Washington D.C. where he says he will be attending a U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee hearing this coming Wednesday.
The state rep saying he’s not done fighting sextortion and is now shifting his attention to the social media platforms where these crimes often happen.
Recently filing a lawsuit against Meta which claims the parent company of Facebook and Instagram has intentionally designed addictive algorithms that target children.
Guffey says these algorithms can cause negative mental health effects and can even lead to the sexual exploitation of children.
He goes on to say he will not personally have a role in the upcoming Senate Judiciary Committee hearing that will see tech CEOs, like Meta head Mark Zuckerberg, testifying, but does say as a reserved guest he will be able to give his personal story to the Judiciary staff as well as personally facing the companies he blames for the death of his son Gavin.
According to Guffey, 42 attorney generals across the nation are also suing Meta for similar reasons.
With the State Rep saying he hopes this will bring about change in the tech world to implement better tools that will protect children from the dangers of cyber surfing.
Guffey does say while Meta is currently the only target in his suit, he does believe other social media platforms like Snap-Chat and X are also to blame.
