A related trial in New Mexico began on Monday. The case revolves around the state's accusation that Meta's Facebook, Photo Wall, and Wazip platforms harm the mental health of teenagers. The state government also applied for an injunction from the court to require Meta to rectify the platform.
The case was heard by a Santa Fe judge alone and originated from a lawsuit filed by the state’s Democratic Attorney General Raul Torres. He accused the social media giant of deliberately designing platform mechanisms to make teenagers addicted and failing to prevent sexual abuse of minors on the platform.
This trial is the second phase of the state’s litigation. In March this year, a jury ruled that Meta violated state consumer protection laws by falsely promoting the safety of Facebook and Photo Wall for teenagers, and ordered Meta to pay $375 million in damages.
In this round of trial, the judge will determine whether Facebook and photo walls constitute a public nuisance in accordance with New Mexico law. Once established, the judge can introduce large-scale rectification measures to curb the related harm caused by the platform to young people.
According to court documents, Torres’ office not only demanded billions of dollars in additional compensation from Meta, but also requested the court to force Meta to significantly adjust the platform rules for New Mexico users: adding an age verification mechanism, optimizing the algorithm to prioritize healthy and high-quality content to minors, and turning off automatic video playback and unlimited scrolling browsing functions for minors’ accounts.
Meta stated that the company has already taken a large number of control measures to ensure the safety of young users.
The New Mexico case is one of thousands of similar lawsuits filed across the U.S. accusing Meta and other social media companies of deliberately creating addictive products for teenagers, thereby triggering a national youth mental health crisis.
Children’s safety issues on social media have long been criticized. Meta warned investors last week that continued judicial litigation and regulatory penalties in Europe and the United States may seriously affect the company’s business operations and financial performance.
On the eve of the trial, Torres expressed at a press conference that he hopes this case can establish new industry standards, which will not only apply to New Mexico, but also radiate across the United States and even the world, standardizing the business behavior and responsibility boundaries of social media companies.
Meta argued in court documents filed before the trial that there is no scientific evidence that social media causes mental illness in teenagers. At the same time, many corrective measures required by the state government cannot be implemented. In extreme cases, Meta may be forced to completely withdraw from the New Mexico market.