Santa Fe, New Mexico — The first independent prosecution by state prosecutors in a series of lawsuits against… dead It is currently taking place in New Mexico, with jury selection starting Monday.
The New Mexico case was built on an undercover state investigation using an agent’s social media accounts and posing as children to document sexual solicitations and a response from Meta, the owner of Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp. It could give states a new legal path to go after social media companies How their platforms affect childrenUsing consumer protection and nuisance laws.
Attorney General Raul Torrez filed a lawsuit in 2023, accusing Meta of creating a market and “breeding ground” for predators who target children for sexual exploitation and failing to disclose what it knew about those harmful effects.
“Many regulators are looking for any evidence of a legal theory that would punish social media, as a victory in this case could have ripple effects across the country and the world,” said Eric Goldman, co-director of the High Tech Law Institute at Santa Clara University School of Law in California. “Whatever the jury says will be of great importance.”
The trial, which is scheduled to hold opening arguments on February 9, could last approximately two months.
Meta denies the civil charges and says prosecutors are taking a “sensationalist” approach. CEO Mark Zuckerberg He was dropped as a defendant in the case, but he was removed and the documents in the case bear his name.
In California, opening arguments are scheduled this week in a personal injury case in Los Angeles County Superior Court that could determine how thousands of similar lawsuits against social media companies will proceed.
Prosecutors say New Mexico is not seeking to hold Meta accountable for the content on its platforms, but rather to hold Meta accountable for its role in disseminating that content through complex algorithms that disseminate potentially addictive material that harms children.
This approach could avoid immunity provisions for social media platforms under the First Amendment shield Article 230a 30-year-old provision of the US Communications Decency Act that protects technology companies from liability for material posted on their platforms.
An undercover investigation by the state created several fake accounts for minors 14 or younger, documented the arrival of online sexual solicitations and monitored meta-responses when the behavior was brought to the company’s attention. The state says Meta’s responses put profits before children’s safety.
Torrez, a Democrat who is up for election to his first term in 2022, urged Meta to implement a more effective age verification process and remove bad actors from its platform. It also seeks changes to algorithms that can deliver harmful material and criticizes comprehensive privacy encryption that could prevent monitoring of communications with children for safety.
Separately, Torrez filed felony charges of child solicitation by electronic device against three men in 2024, also using fake social media accounts to build the case.
Meta denies the civil charges while accusing the prosecutor of cherry-picking documents and presenting “sensational, irrelevant and distracting arguments.”
Meta said in a statement that ongoing lawsuits across the country are trying to blame social media companies for teens’ mental health struggles in a way that oversimplifies matters. This marks the continued addition of account settings and tools — including safety features that give teens more information about who they’re talking to and content restrictions based on PG-13 movie ratings.
Goldman says the company is making extensive resources available for use in courtrooms this year, including New Mexico.
“If they lose this, it will become another beachhead that could erode their core business,” he said.
more than Forty state attorneys general have filed lawsuits Against Meta, claiming that it harms young people and contributes to the youth mental health crisis by intentionally designing features that get children addicted to its platforms. The majority filed lawsuits in federal court.
The groundbreaking trial underway in California against social video companies, including Google’s MetaInstagram and YouTube, focuses on a 19-year-old girl who claims her use of social media from an early age led to her addiction to technology and worsening depression and suicidal thoughts. Snap Inc., the parent company of TikTok and Snapchat, has settled claims in the case affecting thousands of combined plaintiffs.
The federal trial, which begins in June in Oakland, California, will be the first to represent school districts that have sued social media platforms over harm to children.
In New Mexico, plaintiffs also sued Snap Inc. Due to accusations that its platform facilitates the sexual exploitation of children. Snap says its platform has built-in safety barriers and “deliberate design choices to make it harder for strangers to detect minors.” No trial date has been set.
A jury made up of residents of Santa Fe County, including the state’s politically progressive capital, will examine whether and to what extent Meta engaged in unfair business practices.
But the judge will have the final say later on any potential civil penalties and other remedies, and will decide the public nuisance charge against Meta.
The state’s unfair practices law allows for fines of $5,000 per violation, but it’s not yet clear how violations will be calculated.
“The reason the potential harm here is so large is because of the way Facebook operates,” said Molly McGraw, a plaintiff’s attorney in Las Cruces. “Meta tracks everyone who sees a post…. The damage here can be significant.”