Social media giant Meta is threatening to shut down access to Facebook, Instagram, and even WhatsApp in New Mexico if a judge orders the company to implement sweeping child-safety mandates sought by Attorney General Raúl Torrez.
The warning comes ahead of a bench trial beginning Monday in Santa Fe, where the New Mexico Department of Justice will seek court-ordered reforms to Meta’s platforms after previously securing a $375 million jury verdict against the company for violating the state’s consumer protection laws.
According to newly unsealed court filings first reported by Source New Mexico and expanded upon by The Verge, Meta says the state’s requested relief is so broad and burdensome that compliance may be impossible—leaving a full withdrawal from New Mexico as its only realistic option.
“Granting this onerous relief could compel Meta to entirely withdraw Facebook, Instagram, and WhatsApp from the State as the only feasible means of compliance,” the company said in its filing.
Meta argues that New Mexico’s demands would require the company to build entirely separate New Mexico-specific versions of its platforms, which it says would make little economic or engineering sense.
“It does not make economic or engineering sense for Meta to build separate apps just for New Mexico residents,” the filing states.
The company further argued that many of the state’s proposed mandates are “technologically or practically infeasible,” and that some are so vague they violate Meta’s due process rights because the company would have no clear way of knowing whether it was in compliance.
Among the most aggressive changes sought by Torrez, according to court filings and reporting from The Verge and the New York Post, are requirements that Meta:
- Ban infinite scroll, autoplay, and push notifications during school and sleeping hours for minors
- Cap New Mexico minors’ use of Meta platforms at 90 hours per month
- Implement age-verification systems for users
- Detect 99 percent of newly uploaded child sexual abuse material (CSAM)
- Reject underage accounts with near-perfect accuracy
- Prohibit end-to-end encryption for minors
- Display warning labels about risks associated with platform use
- Permanently ban adults found engaging in child exploitation
- Submit to oversight by an independent compliance monitor or committee
Meta says many of those requirements are unrealistic and impossible to guarantee in practice.
“Nor could Meta guarantee the perfection the State demands, making it impractical for Meta to operate in New Mexico,” the company argued.
Attorney General Torrez blasted the threat, accusing Meta of putting profits ahead of children’s safety.
“Meta is showing the world how little it cares about child safety,” Torrez said in a statement reported by KOAT 7.
“Meta’s refusal to follow the laws that protect our kids tells you everything you need to know about this company and the character of its leaders.”
Torrez also rejected Meta’s argument that the requested reforms are impossible, asserting the company has repeatedly altered its products and policies when it served its business interests.
“For years the company has rewritten its own rules, redesigned its products, and even bent to the demands of dictators to preserve market access,” Torrez said. “Meta simply refuses to place the safety of children ahead of engagement, advertising revenue, and profit.”
The current bench trial is the second phase of New Mexico’s broader legal battle against Meta, which began in December 2023, when Torrez sued the company and CEO Mark Zuckerberg, alleging Meta knowingly designed addictive products harmful to children and failed to adequately protect minors from exploitation.
Meta has said it plans to appeal the jury’s prior $375 million verdict.
The case is drawing national attention as one of the most aggressive state-level attempts yet to force judicial restructuring of a major social media platform’s business model.
If the judge grants New Mexico’s requested injunction and Meta follows through on its threat, New Mexico could become the first state in the nation to lose access to Meta’s core social media platforms as a result of court-ordered regulatory demands.
not really a great loss if NM loses FB – half my feed is ads, but Torrez is a Soros beneficiary and this a way to achieve control of information.
The ONE good thing that Torrez has ever done.
I say LEAVE NEW MEXICO Zuckerberg. We do not want you or your data center and crappy social media site in our state. You are obviously supporting human trafficking and putting our children at risk.
Cease, desist and LEAVE NEW MEXICO NOW.
Our ag learned a bunch about “child safety” while working for mexican drug cartels and human smugglers….cant you just feel the sleaze waves from this guy
Sorry, but IMHO no Meta crap is needed. Who cares if they follow through on their threat? There are so many better options than fakebook and their other junk. Just look around.
This is just another control measure from the left. They do this to get money, they don’t really give a darn about the kids. Parents should manage social media for their kids. That’s called being a parent. If a kid gets addicted to marijuana, none of these morons try to put more regulation on it. Same for social media. If your kid gets addicted, deal with it as a parent. If you don’t like FB, don’t use it and don’t let your kids use it. Be a parent, don’t blame your failure on every company out there!
Agreed!
Zuckerburg CLEAN UP YOUR ACT but don’t let this self entitled NO MORALS lawyer push his agenda. New Mexico will be better off without the Loserjan minion!
AG Torres and his Bullshit claims are nothing more than grand standing. It up to the Parents to Police what their children are using during the screen time they have put their kids in front of as babysitters. Sure there are some adds and kinks that may be questionable for SOME Kids but if that’s the case your child should be in a bubble. This is not the world we grew up in and Life is Freakin Hard. Let the kids grow up in it.