Mark Zuckerberg’s Meta faces a pivotal moment as it returns to a New Mexico courtroom today, where the outcome of a significant child safety lawsuit could potentially cost the company billions and necessitate sweeping changes to its platform operations within the state if deemed a “public nuisance.”
According to CNBC, this legal battle was initiated by New Mexico Attorney General Raúl Torrez, who accuses Meta of failing to protect children from sexual predators on its platforms while misleading the public about the risks associated with apps like Instagram and Facebook.
This trial marks a crucial point for Meta, especially following the company’s loss in the initial phase of the proceedings in March. During that phase, a New Mexico jury determined that Meta intentionally violated the state’s unfair practices act, resulting in a $375 million penalty based on the number of infractions identified.
The ongoing bench trial, which spans three weeks and does not involve a jury, aims to decide whether Meta’s conduct constitutes a public nuisance that necessitates major product alterations. In a recent quarterly filing, Meta disclosed that New Mexico’s attorney general is pursuing around $3.7 billion in abatement costs along with injunctive relief, which would require significant changes to Meta’s services within the state.
Legal analysts have likened this year’s social media trials to the “Big Tobacco moment” of the 1990s, when tobacco companies faced massive financial penalties for deceiving consumers about product safety. Nikolas Guggenberger, an assistant professor at the University of Houston Law Center, explained, “Although change wasn’t immediate, the influence of tobacco companies has vastly diminished compared to the 1980s or 90s.”
The case in New Mexico is one among several high-profile trials this year addressing social media companies and child safety issues. Previously, in March, both Meta and Google’s YouTube faced a personal injury lawsuit in Los Angeles. The plaintiff claimed she developed an addiction to Instagram and YouTube during her childhood. The jury concluded that the companies’ negligence significantly contributed to her severe mental health struggles, resulting in a $6 million damages award, with Meta shouldering 70 percent of the liability.
Attorney General Torrez is demanding sweeping changes to Meta’s platforms, including implementation of effective age-verification technologies, alterations to recommendation algorithms to protect child well-being, and other modifications that would fundamentally restructure Meta’s business operations in the state. During a press briefing last week, Torrez said the state is requesting an independent monitor to ensure compliance, stating, “we’ve known now that Meta can’t be trusted to regulate itself, to independently comply and correct its behavior.”
Meta has pushed back forcefully against these demands. A company spokesperson said in a statement that New Mexico’s requirements are “technically impractical, impossible for any company to meet and disregard the realities of the internet.” The spokesperson added, “While it is not in Meta’s interests to do so, if a workable solution to Attorney General Torrez’s demands is not reached, we may have no choice but to remove access to its platforms for users in New Mexico entirely.”
The company added in a statement to – News:
The New Mexico Attorney General’s focus on a single platform is a misguided strategy that ignores the hundreds of other apps teens use daily. Rather than providing comprehensive protections, the state’s proposed mandates infringe on parental rights and stifle free expression for all New Mexicans. Regardless, we remain committed to providing safe, age-appropriate experiences and have already launched many of the protections the state seeks, including 13 safety measures this past year.
The trial carries implications beyond New Mexico. Meta, YouTube, TikTok and Snap are involved in a major federal trial in the Northern District of California with similar claims that the companies misled consumers and built defective apps fostering unhealthy and addictive behaviors in teens and children. That case, involving hundreds of school districts, is scheduled to begin on June 15.
Adam Zimmerman, a professor at the University of Southern California Gould School of Law, noted that plaintiff attorneys will closely monitor the New Mexico proceedings. “This case will not only determine whether or not there are these big remedies for the state of New Mexico, but it’ll be kind of like the first test case for a theory that all these school districts are relying on in federal court that have been filed around the nation, and they’re all consolidated into one,” Zimmerman said.
New Mexico has precedent for public nuisance cases. In 2022, the state pursued a similar case against Walgreens related to the opioid crisis in Santa Fe, ultimately reaching a $500 million settlement. James Grayson, the state’s deputy attorney general, said during last week’s briefing that the case “created or laid the groundwork for using public nuisance in this kind of space. What we’re really trying to do is show statewide harm and the real impact to New Mexicans with this cause of action.”
Read more at CNBC here.
Lucas Nolan is a reporter for – News covering issues of AI, free speech, and online censorship.
