New Mexico Demands Meta Reform Platforms Following Teen Harm Case Trial
A related trial in New Mexico opened this Monday. The case centers around the state's accusations that Meta's Facebook, Instagram, and WhatsApp platforms harm adolescent mental health, with the state government simultaneously applying for a court order requiring Meta to reform its platforms.
This case is being tried solely by a judge in Santa Fe, stemming from a lawsuit filed by the state's Democratic Attorney General Raúl Torres. He accuses the social media giant of deliberately designing platform mechanisms to addict adolescents and failing to prevent sexual exploitation of minors on the platform.
This trial is the second phase of the state's lawsuit. In March of this year, a jury ruled that Meta falsely advertised the safety of Facebook and Instagram to adolescents, violating the state's consumer protection laws, and ordered Meta to pay $375 million in damages.
During this round of hearings, the judge will determine, based on New Mexico law, whether Facebook and Instagram constitute a public nuisance. If found to be, the judge can issue sweeping reform measures to curb the harm the platforms cause to adolescents.
According to court documents, Torres' office is not only seeking billions of dollars in additional damages from Meta but also requesting the court to compel Meta to significantly adjust platform rules for New Mexico users: adding age verification mechanisms, optimizing algorithms to prioritize healthy, high-quality content for minors, and disabling the automatic playback and infinite scrolling features for underage accounts.
Meta stated that the company has already taken extensive control measures to ensure the safe use of its platforms by adolescent users.
Thousands of similar lawsuits have been filed across the United States, accusing Meta and other social media companies of intentionally creating addictive products for adolescents, leading to a national adolescent mental health crisis, and this case in New Mexico is one of them.
The issue of children's safety on social media has long been criticized. Last week, Meta warned investors that ongoing legal proceedings and regulatory penalties in Europe and the United States could seriously affect the company's business operations and financial performance.
On the eve of the trial, Torres stated at a press conference that he hoped the case would establish new industry standards applicable not only in New Mexico but also across the United States and even globally, regulating the business practices and responsibility boundaries of social media companies.
In court documents submitted by Meta prior to the trial, the company argues that there is no scientific evidence to prove that social media causes adolescent mental illness. At the same time, the company claims that many of the reforms requested by the state government are not feasible and could, in extreme cases, force Meta to completely withdraw from the New Mexico market.