Issa Bee is a 13-year-old girl from rural New Mexico. When her Facebook account was created, in August 2023, she listed a 2002 birthday to avoid the restrictions attached to a child’s account. But anybody could tell Issa was a young girl. She posted about the cafeteria and school bus, about loving Harry Styles, about sports tryouts and finishing seventh grade and losing her last baby tooth. Even Facebook’s algorithm seemed to recognize her age; most of the Reels it served her were from other teenage girls.

Within a few days of signing up for Facebook, Issa amassed 5,000 friends and more than 6,700 followers. Nearly all were adult men, including many who followed her from abroad—Nigeria, Ghana, the Dominican Republic. These men reacted to Issa’s posts with comments like “absolutely gorgeou

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