COURTS
Details emerge about what New Mexico wants from Meta
State will ask a judge next month to order Meta to verify user ages, other measures to protect children
Published
Modified
New Mexico will ask a Santa Fe judge to order digital giant Meta to verify the ages of users on its social media platforms and take measures to prevent child sexual exploitation 鈥� among other demands 鈥� at a trial set to begin May 4.
Attorneys for New Mexico will ask a judge to ban "addictive features" on Meta platforms, including Facebook and Instagram, such as infinite scroll, autoplay and push notifications during school and sleep hours.
The state also will ask the judge to appoint a "child safety monitor" to ensure compliance with any orders the judge may issue.
A Santa Fe jury last month ordered Meta Platforms to pay $375 million in civil penalties after finding the company misled consumers about the safety of its platforms for teenagers and preteens.
The landmark verdict, following a six-week trial in 1st Judicial District Court, found that Meta made false or misleading statements and engaged in "unconscionable" trade practices in violation of the state's Unfair Practices Act.
Meta disagrees with the verdict and plans to appeal, the company said in a statement issued immediately after the verdict. No appeal had been filed as of Friday.
State Attorney General Ra煤l Torrez filed the suit against Meta Platforms and CEO Mark Zuckerberg in 2023, alleging the company failed to protect children from sexual abuse, online solicitation and human trafficking.
Lawyers for New Mexico and Meta will square off again next month to determine if Meta must fund programs to mitigate alleged harms to New Mexico children. The "phase 2" trial will address the state's allegation that Meta created a public nuisance that harmed New Mexico children.
In the upcoming bench trial, without a jury, the state will ask Chief Judge Bryan Biedscheid to issue an injunction intended to mitigate those harms. New Mexico filed motions this week that set out its proposed injunction in broad strokes. They include:
Implementation of appropriate age verification.
Measures to prevent child sexual exploitation.
Provisions to address Meta's algorithm and addictive features.
Commitments to correct and not to make misleading statements.
Appointment of a child safety monitor responsible for ensuring compliance.
Meta provides more details
Court records indicate that New Mexico's list of demands is more detailed than those revealed in public records.
Meta filed a brief with the court this week arguing that New Mexico's list of demands is "astonishing" and "stunningly broad" and asked the judge to postpone the trial to give Meta more time to prepare. Biedscheid denied that request on Thursday.
New Mexico attorneys sent a list of more than 50 demands to Meta attorneys by email on Tuesday evening, the brief said. Meta filed the state's full list of demands as an exhibit, but it remains under seal.
However, Meta listed several examples of the state鈥檚 demands, including:
Ensure that artificial intelligence methods are used to detect "at least 99%" of new child sexual abuse materials and report them to the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children, the safety monitor and the court.
"Accounts that are not age-verified shall have view-only access to Instagram and Facebook, with no ability to post or to engage with chats or direct messages."
"Prevent New Mexico (under-18 users) from engaging in romantic or sexualized interactions with its AI chatbots."
The New Mexico Department of Justice didn't immediately respond Friday to a request for the agency's complete list of demands.
"The proposed order would fundamentally restructure how Meta operates for children," the agency said in a statement issued this week.
The proposed ban would also target "recommendation algorithms" that nudge users toward content to increase time spent on the platform and would limit New Mexico minors to a "hard monthly cap" of 90 hours, or about 20 hours per week, on Meta platforms.
The state will also ask Meta to exclude certain features by default for users 17 and younger, including "like" and "share" counts, "which Meta's own researchers linked to anxiety and compulsive use," the statement said.
New Mexico attorneys alleged during the jury trial that the counts keep young users glued to their Instagram and Facebook accounts.
"On child safety, the order would require private-by-default accounts for all minors, block adults from messaging children they are not connected to, bar end-to-end encryption for users under 18, and impose a one-strike permanent ban for any account involved in exploitation," the statement said.
The state lawsuit alleged that Meta did little to prevent contact between children and adult predators.
In preparing the suit, investigators created fictitious Facebook and Instagram accounts, including those for boys and girls in their early teens, complete with photos. The suit alleged that an account for "Issa Bee," a fictitious 13-year-old girl, quickly garnered 5,000 friends and 6,700 followers, most from males ages 18-40.
鈥淭here is post after post from adult men, per their profile pictures, telling Issa they love her and calling her beautiful, sexy, or gorgeous,鈥� the suit said.
