Texas Senator Ted Cruz sent a letter to Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg on Monday asking for answers from the social media giant in relation to the bombshell report last week accusing Instagram of facilitating a “vast pedophile network.” 

Cruz, the ranking member on the Senate Commerce Committee, said in the letter that he intended to investigate the report and requested documentation regarding Meta’s handling of child sexual abuse material that made its way onto Instagram, which is owned by Meta.

“It is shocking and disturbing that Instagram may be actively facilitating the sexual exploitation of children. This horrifying report certainly calls into question whether platforms like Instagram should continue receiving civil liability immunity in cases where the design of their own systems proactively facilitates illegal and harmful activity,” Cruz said in a statement to The Daily Wire.

“Given this example and Meta’s past refusal to adequately answer my questions about Facebook and Instagram’s recommendation algorithms, I think it’s time for the Commerce Committee to hear directly from Mark Zuckerberg why his company’s products are allegedly enabling pedophiles,” the Texas Republican added.

The letter was written in response to a report from The Wall Street Journal alongside researchers at Stanford University and the University of Massachusetts Amherst that said that Instagram allowed and promoted accounts that openly purchased and commissioned “underage-sex content.”

Accounts on Instagram have posted “menus” that offered inappropriate content, including “imagery of the minor performing sexual acts with animals,” according to researchers from the Stanford Internet Observatory. Other “menus” reportedly offered videos of children hurting themselves or “meet-ups” with kids.

Cruz’s inquiry into Meta’s handling of abusive material is part of another investigation he launched in February to look into the treatment of conservative content by tech giants Google, Twitter, TikTok, and Meta.

“As the U.S. Senate Commerce Committee may soon move to consider children’s online safety legislation, this disturbing report further calls into question whether platforms should enjoy Section 230 immunity from civil liability in cases where the design of their own systems proactively [facilitates] illegal and harmful activity,” Cruz wrote in the letter.

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Cruz asked Meta to provide a list of sexually abusive hashtags that Meta blocked and how many times they were promoted by the network’s algorithm. He also asked how many times a user account believed to be under 18 was accessed from one of the abusive hashtags.

Additionally, the Texas Senator asked how many resources were being devoted by Meta to child safety and told the company to preserve all documentation of its communications and policies on the issue.

In response to the Journal’s report, Meta said that it was continually fighting against the proliferation of abusive material.

“Child exploitation is a horrific crime,” said Meta, the parent company of Instagram. “We’re continuously investigating ways to actively defend against this behavior.”

New York Attorney General Letitia James said on Tuesday that she expects state-level cases against Donald Trump to be “adjourned” as the federal prosecution against the former president plays out, increasing the prospect for high-profile investigations to stretch deep into the 2024 election season and possibly beyond.

During an interview for the Pod Save America, James predicted the scheduling of special counsel Jack Smith’s documents case would push back her fraud lawsuit against Trump and his business empire, as well as the criminal cases brought by Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg and Georgia’s Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis.

“In all likelihood, I believe that my case, as well as DA Bragg and the Georgia case, will unfortunately have to be adjourned pending the outcome of the federal case,” James said. “So it all depends upon the scheduling of this particular case.”

NEW: "In all likelihood, I believe that my case [against former President Trump], as well as DA Bragg and the Georgia case, will unfortunately have to be adjourned pending the outcome of the federal case." —@NewYorkStateAG Letitia James pic.twitter.com/y9XTziJUZN

— Pod Save America (@PodSaveAmerica) June 13, 2023

The comments were posted to Twitter in the hours before Trump is expected to appear in a Miami federal courtroom to be arraigned following a grand jury indictment that resulted from Smith’s investigation into the former president’s handling of classified documents after leaving office. Trump faces 31 alleged violations of the Espionage Act for “willful retention” of national defense information as well as counts related to obstruction of justice and false statements. Smith said last week his team would “seek a speedy trial” in that case.

James also said she thinks “everyone is concerned” about the appointment of U.S. District Judge Aileen Cannon, a Trump nominee, to oversee the documents case, noting that her rulings could dictate the pace of the trial.

Some legal experts have called on Cannon to recuse herself while citing past rulings tied to the documents matter, particularly one in favor of Trump’s request for a special master to weed out privileged materials the FBI seized from Trump’s Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida, which got overturned by a federal appeals court.

Trump has already been criminally charged in a hush-money case brought by Bragg, and a trial has been scheduled for March. Trump may also face charges stemming from the inquiry run by Willis, who is investigating his conduct in relation to the 2020 election. A trial has been set for October in the $250 million lawsuit James brought against Trump, members of his family, and the Trump Organization.

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Pete Skandalakis, director of the Prosecuting Attorneys’ Council of Georgia, cast doubt upon the assertion that the documents case could disrupt the scheduling of others. Though he noted some exceptions that could lead to a pause, Skandalakis said his research staffers have found “no law that gives the federal government the ability to go first,” according to the Atlanta-Journal Constitution.

Trump broadly denies any wrongdoing, claiming he is being subject to a “witch hunt” as he runs again for the presidency in 2024. Trump is expected to deliver remarks Tuesday evening after traveling to his club in Bedminster, New Jersey, following his arraignment.