New Mexico asked a judge to declare Meta Platforms a public nuisance, seeking nearly $3.7 billion in penalties and comprehensive court-ordered changes to Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp, Reuters reports. State lawyers argued that the company intentionally designed its platforms to maximize minors’ attention and dependency. “Across the country, children are begging for help,” David Ackerman, an attorney for the state, said in opening statements, according to Reuters.
The proceedings are the second phase of Attorney General Raúl Torrez’s case against Meta. In March, a jury found the company violated New Mexico’s consumer protection law by misrepresenting the safety of its platforms for younger users and awarded $375 million in damages. Meta has said it plans to appeal.
If Judge Bryan Biedscheid finds the public nuisance designation fits state law, he could order sweeping changes to Meta’s platforms in New Mexico, including mandatory age verification, restrictions on autoplay and infinite scroll for minors, and changes to platform design that prioritizes time on screen over health.
Meta attorney Alex Parkinson argued that the state was stretching public nuisance law beyond its limits and relied on harm to individual users rather than to the general welfare. If social media is a public nuisance, he said, so are alcohol, cell phones and supermarkets that sell junk food. Meta has said it has invested heavily in safety tools and parental controls for younger users.
About This Story
Daily Reports is Brant.One’s news roundup. Each day we gather the New Mexico stories worth knowing from newsrooms across the state, sum them up and point you to the source. This one comes from Reuters’s reporting, and their original story has the interviews and full details.
Editor’s note: Updated Oct. 31, 2026. This story is now part of Daily Reports, our New Mexico news roundup, and was revised to credit Reuters’s original reporting. Learn how Daily Reports works in our editorial standards.
