The household of a teenage boy who took his personal life after being blackmailed on Instagram are suing the platform’s proprietor Meta.
Warning: This text incorporates particulars that some readers could discover distressing.
Murray Dowey, from Dunblane in Scotland, was simply 16 years outdated when he grew to become a sufferer of on-line sextortion in December 2023.
His mother and father, Mark and Ros Dowey, have now launched authorized motion in opposition to Meta in a US courtroom alongside one other household amid claims the tech large failed to guard kids on its platforms.
Legal professionals are alleging the corporate “knew of safety features that would prevent sextortion” however as an alternative “prioritised profit”.
She added: “We’ve lost the most precious thing. We’ve got nothing left to lose.
“We are going to see this by means of to the tip as a result of the worst factor that might occur to us has already occurred.”
Meta, which also owns Facebook, branded sextortion a “horrific crime” and said it supports law enforcement to prosecute the criminals behind it.
The firm added: “We proceed to struggle them on our apps on a number of fronts.”
It is believed Murray was exploited by criminals in West Africa, who posed as a young girl.
The teenager was tricked into sending intimate images of himself and was told they would be exposed to his family if he failed to pay.
Mrs Dowey branded the scammers “scum”.
She added: “Murray was completely fantastic when he went as much as his room that night time. He was speaking about going to soccer the following day, speaking about his vacation along with his pals.
“It literally happened in the space of a few hours in his bedroom where he should have been the safest.
“There was no alternative for us to intervene or discover one thing was incorrect as a result of he did not come by means of for no matter cause.
“He went from absolutely fine to dead the next morning.”
Mrs Dowey described her son as a “lovely, funny, kind boy who had everything to live for”.
The Stirling Albion FC supporter beloved going out along with his pals and was anticipated to go on to college after secondary faculty.
Mrs Dowey stated: “We’re just all devastated. He’s got an older and a younger brother, so he was the middle peacemaker between them.
“Every little thing we do, we’re conscious there is a seat empty that needs to be Murray. And that is going to be for the remainder of our lives as his brothers graduate, as they get married, as they’ve kids.
“It’s been horrific to have gone from a completely normal family to having to live with this for the rest of our lives.”
The lawsuit has been filed by the Social Media Victims Legislation Centre (SMVLC).
The Doweys have been named alongside Tricia Maciejewski, from Pennsylvania, whose son Levi took his personal life on the age of 13.
Meta highlighted quite a lot of its security options which goals to fight probably suspicious adults and potential sextortion accounts, which features a new block and report choice in DMs.
A spokesperson for the agency stated: “Since 2021, we’ve placed teens under 16 into private accounts when they sign up for Instagram, which means they have to approve any new followers.
“We work to stop accounts displaying suspicious behaviour from following teenagers and keep away from recommending teenagers to them.
“We also take other precautionary steps, like blurring potentially sensitive images sent in DMs and reminding teens of the risks of sharing them, and letting people know when they’re chatting to someone who may be in a different country.”
