New Mexico's Raúl Torrez Drafts Social Media Safety Laws After $942M Court Victory Against Meta

New Mexico Attorney General Drafts Sweeping Social Media Safety Legislation

New Mexico attorney general Raúl Torrez is working with state lawmakers to draft two bills aimed at strengthening child safety online and online consumer protections, capitalizing on the state's landmark $942 million court victory against Meta1

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. The legislation, expected to be announced in the coming weeks, will extend beyond social media to create a broader consumer protection framework for emerging technologies, including artificial intelligence and chatbots1

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One of the bills would remove the cap on penalties for violating New Mexico's consumer protection laws, a move that signals the state's intent to impose more significant financial consequences on companies that fail to protect users2

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. Torrez has had preliminary discussions about the legislation with Deb Haaland, the former US interior secretary and Democratic nominee for New Mexico governor, who expressed support for his efforts1

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Building Momentum from Historic Meta Verdict

The proposed legislation builds directly on New Mexico's groundbreaking case against Meta, the parent company of Facebook, WhatsApp and Instagram. In March, a jury found that Meta misled users about the safety of its platforms and enabled harm, including child sexual exploitation, imposing a $375 million fine1

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. Earlier this month, First Judicial District Judge Bryan Biedscheid ordered Meta to create a $567 million abatement fund on top of the civil penalties, bringing the company's total New Mexico liability to $942 million2

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The money will primarily fund youth mental health treatment, with the remainder directed toward awareness, prevention and screening services1

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. The court also imposed reforms that will remain in effect for five years, including age verification, enhanced safeguards against child sexual exploitation, overnight limits on push notifications and mandatory time-use limits for users under 181

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Expanding Legal Action Beyond Meta

Torrez is pursuing additional lawsuits beyond the Meta case. His office is preparing a second, separate case against Meta over data privacy and civic harms, with a trial expected to begin in September2

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. The attorney general is also filing a lawsuit against an AI company over a chatbot that children have formed emotional attachments to, describing the case as likely to be filed in the "relatively near future"1

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Reflecting on the first phase of the trial against Meta, which ran from February to March, Torrez said the evidence that most shocked him was "the depth of what they knew about not only the mental health problems that were occurring on the platform, but also the pervasiveness of child sexual exploitation"1

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. The evidence came in part from internal emails obtained during the discovery process, which Meta fought hard to prevent from being disclosed, bringing "nearly 50 lawyers" to the case1

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Federal Trial and Broader Coalition Against Meta

The timing of Torrez's legislative push lines up with a separate federal trial in Oakland, California, where 29 state attorneys general are facing off against Meta2

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. The case, brought by California, Colorado, Kentucky and New Jersey as part of the broader 29-state coalition that sued Meta in 2023, alleges the social media giant designed Facebook and Instagram to keep children and teens on the platforms longer, to the point of physical and mental harm2

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. They also accuse the company of illegally collecting children's data in violation of COPPA, the federal children's privacy law2

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Child safety advocates welcomed Torrez's legislative efforts. "We applaud Attorney General Torrez and attorneys general across the country who are holding Meta and other Big Tech platforms to account for their treatment of kids and teens," said Haley Hinkle, policy counsel at child advocacy group Fairplay2

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. Julie Scelfo, founder and executive director of Mothers Against Media Addiction, added: "No company should be allowed to profit from products that intentionally addict and harm our kids"2

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A Meta spokesperson said the company has "strict, longstanding rules against child exploitation and have invested billions to fight it," citing its record of removing 36 million pieces of child sexual exploitation content from Facebook and Instagram in 20251

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. The spokesperson added that Meta "disagree[s] with the ruling and will appeal"2

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