Mom of son who died by suicide after Facebook ‘sextortion’ scheme slams Mark Zuckerberg as ‘soulless psychopath’ outside LA court

A grieving New York mom whose 15-year-old son shot himself after being targeted in a Facebook “sextortion” scam blasted Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg as a “soulless psychopath” as he arrived to testify in a landmark social media addiction trial in Los Angeles on Wednesday.

Mary Rodee watched as the tech billionaire entered Los Angeles Superior Court, where he is taking the stand in the first of roughly 1,500 lawsuits accusing social media giants of designing addictive platforms that harm children.

Rodee’s son died in March 2021 after he was extorted by someone he met on Facebook Messenger, she said.

She described Zuckerberg to The Post as a “soulless psychopath” and a “negligent criminal” over what she says was the company’s failure to protect her child.

“I see these kids on a spiraling path where their parents are watching social media take their child away,” Rodee told The Post.

“Mine was just like in an instant.”

Rodee said her son fatally shot himself after being threatened by someone who demanded money and warned that explicit images would be shared.

Nearly a dozen parents gathered outside Los Angeles Superior Court before Zuckerberg’s arrival on Wednesday holding framed photographs of children they say were harmed — or died — after using social media.

Security around the Meta chief was tight.

An advance team worked closely with the Department of Homeland Security to plan Zuckerberg’s arrival, The Post has learned. He was flanked by a security detail that stuck close as he moved through the courthouse.

At 9:23 a.m., a delivery worker brought two boxes and a case of water to the door of Zuckerberg’s holding room. When his handler asked what was inside, the delivery worker replied, “Snacks,” and was allowed to bring them in.

When court broke midmorning, Zuckerberg retired to a private room before returning to the courtroom.

The lawsuit, the first of roughly 1,500 cases to reach trial, was brought by a now-20-year-old California woman identified as “Kaley,” who alleges she began using YouTube at age six and Instagram at age nine.

According to her complaint, Kaley would sometimes spend “several hours a day” on the social networking platforms. On one occasion, she reported logging more than 16 hours in a single day.

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Her attorneys argue the tech companies engineered addictive features — including infinite scroll, auto-play and push notifications — that fueled anxiety, body dysmorphia, bullying and sextortion, ultimately contributing to suicidal thoughts of its users.

To sidestep Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act — the federal law that shields platforms from liability over user-generated content — the plaintiffs have framed the case as a product-liability fight, alleging the platforms themselves are defectively designed.

Meta has denied the claims, saying it “strongly disagree[s]” and insisting the evidence will show its “longstanding commitment to supporting young people.”

The company has argued that the plaintiff faced “many significant, difficult challenges well before she ever used social media.”

The trial is widely viewed as a bellwether for more than a thousand consolidated lawsuits filed by parents and school districts who claim they have been forced to redirect resources to address a youth mental-health crisis tied to excessive social media use.