New Mexico Explores Enhanced Child Safety Measures for Meta Platforms in Second Phase of Trial

New Mexico Prosecutors Seek Changes to Meta's Social Media Algorithms to Safeguard Children

SANTA FE, N.M. - New Mexico state prosecutors are seeking fundamental changes to Meta's social media apps and algorithms to safeguard children in the second phase of a landmark trial on allegations that platforms such as Instagram have created a public safety hazard.

The three-week bench trial is scheduled to begin on Monday, with prosecutors asking a judge to impose changes aimed at reining in addictive features, improving age verification, and preventing child sexual exploitation through default privacy settings and closer oversight. In the first phase of the trial, jurors ordered $375 million in civil penalties against Meta, determining that it knowingly harmed children's mental health and concealed what it knew about child sexual exploitation on its platforms.

Prosecutors are now seeking to address concerns about the addictive nature of Meta's platforms, including the use of infinite scroll, push notifications, and default settings that show tallies for likes and sharing. They are also demanding improvements to age verification and other steps aimed at curbing child sexual exploitation. Additionally, prosecutors want child accounts on Meta platforms to have an associated parent or guardian, as well as a court-supervised child safety monitor to track improvements over time.

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The case is the first to reach trial among lawsuits filed by more than 40 state attorneys general on allegations that Meta contributes to a youth mental health crisis. New Mexico Attorney General Raúl Torrez said the jury verdict in the first phase punctured the aura of invincibility protecting tech companies from liability for material on their platforms under Section 230, a 30-year-old provision of the U.S. Communications Decency Act.

Meta has vowed to appeal the jury verdict and warned that it could eliminate Instagram and Facebook service in New Mexico if forced to comply with impractical mandates. The company plans to call an array of technical experts as witnesses in arguing that the demands are impractical if not impossible and would force it to "disregard the realities of the internet."