A trial is set to begin in New Mexico on Monday that will examine claims that Meta’s platforms—Facebook, Instagram, and WhatsApp—have harmed the mental health of young users. The state is seeking a court order that would force the company to make significant changes to its platforms.
This case, which a judge in Santa Fe will oversee, comes from a lawsuit filed by New Mexico Attorney General Raúl Torrez, a Democrat. Torrez accuses Meta of intentionally designing its platforms to addict young users and for failing to protect children from sexual exploitation.
This trial marks the second part of New Mexico’s lawsuit against Meta. In March, a jury found that Meta broke the state’s consumer protection law by misleading people about how safe Facebook and Instagram were for young users. That verdict ordered Meta to pay $375 million in damages.
In this next phase, the judge will decide if Meta’s Facebook and Instagram platforms have created a “public nuisance” under New Mexico law. If the judge finds this to be true, he could order broad changes aimed at stopping the alleged harm to young users.
Torrez’s office is expected to ask for billions more in damages. They also want an order requiring Meta to make big changes for New Mexico users. These changes could include adding age verification, redesigning its algorithms to show better content to minors, and stopping features like autoplay and infinite scroll for young users, according to court documents.
Meta has stated that it has taken extensive steps to make sure its young users are safe on its platforms. New Mexico’s case is one of thousands of lawsuits accusing Meta and other social media companies of purposely designing products that addict young people, which critics say has led to a nationwide mental health crisis.
Meta warned investors last week that legal and regulatory challenges in the European Union and the U.S. “could significantly impact our business and financial results.” This warning came after years of growing criticism about children’s safety on social media.
Before the trial, Torrez told reporters he hopes the case will “set a new standard, not only in the state of New Mexico but nationally and potentially globally.” He wants to establish “a new set of expectations for how social media companies are expected to conduct themselves.”
In court documents filed before the trial, Meta argued that there is no scientific proof that social media causes mental health problems. The company also claimed that many of the changes Torrez is seeking would be impossible to put into place and could even force Meta to leave the state entirely. A Meta spokesperson added in a statement before the trial, “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.”
