Mark Zuckerberg’s Meta faces a trial this week in New Mexico. The lawsuit follows an undercover operation by New Mexico Attorney General Raúl Torrez, a Soros-backed Democrat.
Reuters reports that the lawsuit, filed by Soros-backed New Mexico Attorney General Raúl Torrez, accuses Meta of promoting illegal content and facilitating the sexual exploitation of children across its Facebook, Instagram, and WhatsApp platforms. According to the complaint, the company allowed predators unrestricted access to underage users and connected them with victims, allegedly leading to real-world abuse and human trafficking in some cases.
Jury selection is set to begin Monday at the Santa Fe District Court, with the trial expected to continue for seven or eight weeks. This represents the first case of its kind against Meta to reach a jury trial stage.
Meta has denied all allegations and maintains that it has implemented extensive safety measures to protect younger users on its platforms.
The case originated from an undercover operation conducted by AG Torrez and his office in 2023. During the investigation, state officials created accounts on Facebook and Instagram posing as users younger than 14 years old. These accounts reportedly received sexually explicit material and were contacted by adults seeking similar content. The operation resulted in criminal charges being filed against three individuals.
Beyond the exploitation allegations, New Mexico also accuses Meta of deliberately designing its platforms to maximize user engagement despite evidence suggesting these features harm children’s mental health. The lawsuit claims that features such as infinite scroll and auto-play videos keep young users on the platforms for extended periods, fostering addictive behavior that can contribute to depression, anxiety, and self-harm.
According to the state’s complaint, internal company documents show that Meta was aware of problems related to sexual exploitation and mental health harms. Despite this knowledge, New Mexico alleges that the company failed to implement basic safety tools such as age verification and misrepresented the safety of using its platforms to the public.
The state is seeking monetary damages and a court order requiring Meta to implement changes that would improve safety for children using its platforms.
In a statement issued before the trial, a Meta spokesperson described New Mexico’s arguments as “sensationalist, irrelevant and distracting” and claimed they were based on cherry-picked documents. “For over a decade, we’ve listened to parents, worked with experts and law enforcement, and conducted in-depth research to understand the issues that matter most,” the spokesperson said. “We’re proud of the progress we’ve made, and we’re always working to do better.”
Meta has argued that it is protected from liability in this case by both the free speech protections of the First Amendment of the United States Constitution and Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act, which generally shields websites from lawsuits related to user-generated content. The company contends that the state’s allegations of harm cannot be separated from the content on its platforms because its algorithms and design features serve to publish that content.
A spokesperson for the New Mexico Department of Justice stated ahead of the trial that the agency looked forward to presenting its case in court, noting it would allow them “to present the jury with documents and testimony gathered over more than two years of litigation.”
Breitbart News recently reported that Meta is also in the limelight as part of a landmark case against multiple tech giants over teen social media addiction.
Read more at Reuters here.
Lucas Nolan is a reporter for Breitbart News covering issues of free speech and online censorship.
