New Mexico’s attorney general Raúl Torrez is leveraging a significant court victory against Meta to advance child safety protections through new legislation. The state’s legal office is drafting two bills designed to strengthen consumer protections and establish a broader framework for emerging technologies including artificial intelligence, with announcements expected in the coming weeks.
Torrez’s push follows major legal wins against Meta. A jury determined in March that the company misled users about platform safety and enabled harm including child sexual exploitation, resulting in a $375 million fine. In a second phase concluded earlier this month, a judge ordered Meta to pay an additional $567 million, bringing the total liability to approximately $942 million. The judge also imposed a series of five-year reforms including age verification requirements, enhanced safeguards against child exploitation, limits on push notifications and mandatory time-use restrictions for users under 18. The case was the first to hold Meta liable for harmful acts occurring on its platforms.
Torrez indicated additional legal action is underway. His office is pursuing another case against Meta involving data privacy and civic harms, with trial expected to begin in September. The attorney general also plans to file a lawsuit against an artificial intelligence company regarding a chatbot children have formed emotional attachments to, expected to be filed in the near future. During the initial trial proceedings, Torrez cited internal company emails as evidence demonstrating Meta’s knowledge of child exploitation and mental health harms on its platforms.
The New Mexico litigation has generated broader legal interest. Other state attorneys general, municipalities, school districts and private parties have expressed interest in replicating the approach. Meta currently faces additional litigation from California and other states, with potential damages across ongoing state attorney general litigation exceeding $1.4 trillion according to court filings. Meta has stated it disagrees with the rulings and intends to appeal.
Article Attribution | Read More at Article Source
Article summary produced by Claude AI