The parents of Murray Dowey, a Scottish teenager who tragically took his own life after being sextorted on Instagram, have launched legal action against the platform’s owner Meta, in what is believed to be the first UK case of its kind.

Murray, 16, from Dunblane, died in December 2023 after being manipulated by scammers, reportedly operating from West Africa, who posed as a young girl online. The perpetrators coerced him into sending intimate images and threatened to expose them to his family if he did not pay.

Legal Action Against Meta

Murray’s parents, Mark and Ros Dowey, have filed a lawsuit in a US court, seeking punitive damages and arguing that Instagram was unsafe for young users. Their lawyers claim that Meta “knew of safety features that would prevent sextortion” but prioritized profit over user protection.

Ros Dowey told BBC Breakfast:

“It is time that Meta were held accountable for what they’ve done to young people. There is evidence that they knew at least five years before Murray died that their products weren’t safe, yet predators were still able to target children.”

The lawsuit is filed alongside Tricia Maciejewski from Pennsylvania, whose 13-year-old son also took his life after being sextorted. The Social Media Victims Law Center (SMVLC) is representing these families, as well as four others in the UK pursuing legal action against TikTok for viral trend-related deaths.

Meta’s Response and Safety Measures

Meta, which also owns Facebook, stated that it works to support law enforcement in prosecuting criminals behind sextortion and implements safety features for teens. Since 2021, Instagram has:

• Placed new users under 16 into private accounts by default
• Restricted accounts exhibiting suspicious behavior from following teens
• Blurred potentially sensitive images in DMs
• Warned teens when chatting with someone in another country

Despite these measures, Murray’s parents argue that existing protections were insufficient. Only new accounts for users under 16 were made private, meaning Murray’s account was not covered. They also claim algorithms on Meta platforms were facilitating adult interactions with children, and internal safety advisors had repeatedly urged the company to act.

Ros Dowey said:

“To see that Meta probably could’ve saved our son but chose profits over safety is like a punch in the gut. These children were collateral damage to greed.”

The Broader Issue of Sextortion

Sextortion targeting minors has become a global problem, particularly in Nigeria, where criminal networks—nicknamed “yahoo boys”—coerce young men into participating. Guides and instructions for committing sextortion are reportedly widely available online. The Network Contagion Research Institute describes the phenomenon as a “digital pandemic,” highlighting the international scope of the issue.

Calls for Accountability

The Doweys hope that the lawsuit will not only secure justice for Murray but also prompt Meta to implement stronger protections for children across its platforms. Ros Dowey emphasized the urgency:

“Meta needs to acknowledge that their systems enabled predators to exploit children and install better safeguards immediately.”

This case represents a landmark moment in the fight for social media accountability and may set a precedent for other families affected by online exploitation.