Key Points:
- New Mexico is taking Meta to court over claims its platforms addict youth and create a public nuisance.
- The state wants Meta to verify user ages, change its algorithm, and stop infinite scrolling for minors.
- Meta warns that these impossible demands could force the company to withdraw its services from the state entirely.
- This trial follows a March ruling in which a jury ordered Meta to pay $375 million for misrepresenting its safety.
Meta faces a massive legal battle in New Mexico that could change how social media works across the country. Attorney General Raúl Torrez filed a lawsuit accusing the tech giant of designing Facebook, Instagram, and WhatsApp to addict young users intentionally. He also claims the company fails to protect children from sexual exploitation. The trial begins Monday before a judge in Santa Fe.
The stakes in this courtroom are incredibly high. Torrez wants the judge to order sweeping changes to Meta’s operations. In response, Meta warns that the state’s demands are so extreme and technologically impossible that the company might have to withdraw its platforms from New Mexico entirely.
Monday marks the second phase of this intense legal fight. Just this past March, a jury dealt Meta a heavy blow in the first part of the lawsuit. The jury found that Meta broke state consumer protection laws by lying to the public about the safety of Facebook and Instagram. Because of those lies, the court ordered the company to pay $375 million in damages.
Now, Judge Bryan Biedscheid will examine a different legal angle. He must decide if Meta created a “public nuisance” under New Mexico law. Lawyers traditionally use public nuisance claims to stop activities that harm a community, like polluting a local river or blocking a busy road. In recent years, states have used this same law to sue tobacco companies, opioid manufacturers, and vaping brands. Now, they are testing it against social media giants.
New Mexico wants the judge to order Meta to overhaul its user experience. Torrez plans to ask the court to require the company to verify the exact ages of its users. He also wants Meta to redesign its algorithm to show healthier content to minors. Finally, the state demands an end to highly addictive features like autoplay videos and infinite scrolling for young people.
Beyond changing the app, the state wants a massive amount of money to fix the damage. While Torrez has not publicly disclosed the exact dollar amount, Meta has in court filings. The company claims that New Mexico plans to request $3.7 billion. The state allegedly wants to use this money to fund a 15-year mental health plan, build new healthcare clinics, and hire more doctors to treat local teenagers.
Meta calls these demands completely unreasonable. The company says it would end up paying for the mental health care of every teen in the state, regardless of what actually caused their health issues. Furthermore, Meta argues it has already taken extensive steps to keep young users safe and address the concerns raised by the state.
A spokesperson for Meta strongly criticized the lawsuit ahead of the trial. The company argues that focusing solely on Facebook and Instagram overlooks the hundreds of other apps teenagers use every day. Meta also claims that the state’s strict mandates will trample on parental rights and hurt free speech for everyone living in New Mexico.
Meta continues to push back against the core idea of the lawsuit. The tech giant told the court it cannot be a public nuisance because it never interfered with a public right. The company also argues that no solid scientific evidence proves that social media directly causes mental health problems in teenagers.
Lawmakers and lawyers across the nation are watching the Santa Fe courtroom very closely. New Mexico is not fighting this battle alone. More than 40 other states and over 1,300 school districts have filed similar lawsuits against social media companies. They all use the public nuisance strategy to seek massive damages and force industry-wide changes. If New Mexico wins this case, it will create a powerful blueprint for the rest of the country to follow.
Meta knows the danger it faces. Just last Wednesday, the company warned its investors about this growing legal storm. Executives admitted that mounting lawsuits and new regulations in the United States and the European Union could seriously hurt the business’s financial future. Now, the company must fight to protect its platform design before a single judge who holds the power to reshape the internet in New Mexico.
