The state judge overseeing New Mexico’s attempt to force a safety overhaul of Instagram and Facebook said Monday that he’s worried some of the proposed changes would amount to “overreach.”
New Mexico attorney general Raúl Torrez is pushing for extensive changes and up to $3.7 billion in penalties after a state jury ruled last month that Mark Zuckerberg’s Meta had failed to protect kids from sexual predators. Judge Bryan Biedscheid is presiding over a second trial to determine which of those requested remedies are appropriate.
“I am a judge, I am not a legislator, I am not a regulator,” Biedscheid said as the second phase began on Monday.
Biedscheid added that his goal was to ensure any court-ordered fixes would address the proven harms of Instagram and Facebook without him becoming a “one-person legislature.”
The judge will rule on whether Meta’s failings constitute a “public nuisance” under state law, which would allow him to order remedies. The jury previously ordered Meta to pay $375 million in damages.
“The changes we’re seeking are reasonable, achievable, and supported by child safety and technology experts,” Torrez said in a statement ahead of the trial. “There is no credible argument against them, only a company that has decided its bottom line matters more than the safety of kids.”
As The Post reported, Meta has already threatened to cut off access to Instagram and Faceook entirely if the judge orders “impractical” safety features to be implemented. The social media giant claims Torrez’s “requests for relief are so broad and so burdensome” that no one could realistically comply with them.
Torrez fired back, asserting that Meta’s threats were little more than a PR stunt and that the company was “showing the world how little it cares about child safety.”
New Mexico’s proposed fixes include implementing an effective age verification process for accounts; recommendation algorithms that prioritize user safety over boosting how much time they spend on the apps; and limits on end-to-end encrypted messaging for minors.
State officials also want Meta to display warning labels about the risks of using its apps and an independent oversight committee to ensure the company’s compliance. Meta “would be held to a 99% detection rate for new child sexual abuse material,” according to the state.
A Meta spokesperson said the state’s demands are “technically impractical, impossible for any company to meet and disregard the realities of the internet.”
Experts previously told the Post that Meta’s threat to cut off the apps entirely, while technically feasible, would make the situation even messier for the company.
“I think a blackout in one state would be comically easy to circumvent – for example, with a VPN,” Ryan Calo, a professor at the University of Washington focused on the intersection of law and technology, said last week. “Who is responsible when, invariably, New Mexico residents continue to access Facebook? And of course, they would still have to pay for prior behavior in the state.”
WIth Post wires
