HOUSTON – A temporary restraining order was recently dissolved in a lawsuit is accusing Facebook, along with several other companies, of treating children like commodities.
Seeking more than $1 million in damages, the plaintiff, identified only as Jane Doe, filed the suit Oct. 1, 2018 in Harris County District Court, also naming Backpage.com, America’s Inn and Texas Pearl as defendants.
Driven by profit, Doe claims social media giants like Facebook and sex brokers like Backpage have treated children as a commodity, providing predators unrestricted means to prey on victims.
Court records show that on Jan. 28, the trial court entered a TRO prohibiting Facebook from rolling out its “Off-Facebook Activity” feature. Two days later, Facebook appealed, seeking to vacate the “baseless” order.
“A Harris County district court has issued a boundless restraining order that restricts the privacy choices of hundreds of millions of Facebook users,” states Facebook’s appellate brief. “As vast as this unprecedented order sweeps, it does not even reach the information that plaintiff purportedly seeks to preserve.
“Rather, while this case involves alleged interactions between plaintiff and another individual in 2012, hundreds of millions of Facebook users who have nothing to do with this case are being denied control over information about their recent and ongoing online activities.”
Doe responded, arguing that at the TRO hearing, Facebook admitted that its users now have the ability to disconnect and delete information gathered by it from the off Facebook websites that it has traditionally tracked, and that Facebook further admitted that users were actively doing so.
“By clearing their history, crucial evidence showing the information known to Facebook regarding the trafficking and sexual exploitation of victims on their platform will be destroyed,” Doe’s brief states.
Earlier this month, Facebook moved to withdraw the appeal and on Feb. 20 the 14th Court of appeals granted the social media giant’s request.
Court records show that Doe filed a motion dissolve the TRO on Feb. 6. On Feb. 17, the court signed an order granting the motion.
Doe also moved to withdraw her motion for contempt, which asserted Facebook continued to allow the destruction of evidence to occur on its platform.
Case background
According to the lawsuit, Doe was 15 in 2012 when she was friended by another Facebook user, who offered her a job as a model.
“Within hours of meeting the Facebook Friend, photos were taken of Jane Doe and were posted on Backpage, and then she was raped, beaten and forced into further sex trafficking,” the suit states. “Jane Doe had never been made aware of the dangers of sex traffickers on Facebook.
“Millions of minors like Jane Doe remain at risk every day when they simply log onto Facebook.”
The suit also alleges hotels, “like the one in this lawsuit, look the other way” while children are exploited and “made available for sex acts to multiple predators.”
Doe is represented in part by Houston attorney Michael Gallagher.
Facebook is represented in part by attorneys Russell Falconer and Collin Joe Cox.
Trial court case No. 2018-69816
Appeals case No. 14-20-00089-CV