After losing his son to suicide after an online sextortion scheme, a South Carolina lawmaker is taking his fight to the courts, suing one of the largest social media companies in the world for, among other things, its role in his son’s untimely death.

State Rep. Brandon Guffey, R-York, filed a lawsuit Monday in state court against Meta — owner and operator of Facebook, Instagram, Threads and Whatsapp — for failing to protect unsuspecting minors, including his late 17-year-old son, from online sexual predators, who extort underage children for financial gain.

“Parents need to know and understand that while we’re so busy trying to protect our kids from the outside world, just as I was, we’re not paying attention to what is happening while they’re in their own bedrooms,” Guffey said.

Guffey’s son, Gavin, a victim of sextortion, was 17 years old when he died by suicide in the summer of 2022.

In his push to protect other children, Guffey introduced a bill last year, “Gavin’s Law,” which cleared the General Assembly with widespread bipartisan support. The law makes sexual extortion or “sextortion” — the act of blackmailing someone after luring them to send sexually explicit photos of themselves via text or social media — a felony offense in South Carolina, which becomes aggravated if the victim is a minor.

In his lawsuit, Guffey claims that Meta has created “addictive and dangerous social media products marketed using deceitful practices” that specifically targets minors.

“Defendants (Meta) deliberately embedded in their products an array of design features aimed at maximizing youth engagement to drive advertising revenue,” the lawsuit said. “Despite knowing the impact its products would have on America’s youth, Meta still chose to target them in pursuit of profit. For these reasons, Meta is responsible for the unprecedented mental health crisis in America today.”

Guffey’s complaint against Meta comes amid a slew of other lawsuits pending against the social media conglomerate, including one by 33 states that claim the company is systematically fueling a decline in the mental health of minors through its addictive apps. In another case, New Mexico brought suit against the company for purportedly exposing underage users to alleged sex predators.

A Meta spokesperson said the company had no comment on the suit.

Guffey said less than 30 days following his son’s death, the same Facebook profile that targeted Gavin, began going after his other 16 year-old son, his 14-year old cousin and even him.

“They sent me a message saying, ‘Did I tell you that your son begged for his life?,’ “ Guffey said. “If they’re willing to go that far with me, how many other kids did that profile attack?”

Roughly two years ago, someone pretending to be a college-age woman asked Guffey’s son to send illicit photos of himself. After the pictures were exchanged, Guffey said Gavin and his family were extorted for money, which eventually led to his son’s death.

“I want parents to be aware of this,” Guffey said. “The majority of the danger with kids right now is within their own homes. The study in the (House) AI committee said the average person spends just under seven hours a day online. If you’re spending that much time online as opposed to being outside in the real world, you have a far greater chance of being targeted.”