{"id":5461,"date":"2026-08-17T21:44:28","date_gmt":"2026-08-17T21:44:28","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/crosscountrymovingteams.com\/?p=5461"},"modified":"2026-08-17T21:44:28","modified_gmt":"2026-08-17T21:44:28","slug":"new-mexicos-attorney-general-reportedly-pushes-new-social-media-safety-laws-a-day-before-29-ags-testify-against-meta-in-federal-trial","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/crosscountrymovingteams.com\/?p=5461","title":{"rendered":"New Mexico\u2019s attorney general reportedly pushes new social media safety laws a day before 29 AGs testify against Meta in federal trial"},"content":{"rendered":"
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The legislation, which is expected to be announced in the coming weeks, would extend beyond social media to cover artificial intelligence and chatbots.<\/p>\n

Read more Japan\u2019s economy notches 1.1% growth rate as spending dips 1.2% and PM sinks in polling<\/a><\/p>\n

\u201cI think there\u2019s a lot of momentum coming out of our victory in court, and the idea is to build on that momentum,\u201d Torrez told the Guardian<\/em>.<\/p>\n

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The timing lines up two fronts in the fight over Meta and child safety: Torrez\u2019s push at the state legislative level, building on New Mexico\u2019s own $942 million verdict against the company, and Tuesday\u2019s opening statements in the federal case brought by California, Colorado, Kentucky and New Jersey as part of the broader 29-state coalition that sued Meta in 2023.<\/p>\n

One of Torrez\u2019s bills would remove the cap on penalties for violating New Mexico\u2019s consumer protection laws. \u201cWhat we are going to do is continue to lobby Congress for that, but also to work at the state level to try and build not only a comprehensive social media safety bill, but also to reform and update our consumer protection laws,\u201d he told the Guardian<\/em>.<\/p>\n

Torrez said his office is also pursuing a second, separate case against Meta over data privacy and civic harms, with a trial expected to begin in September. In addition, he is preparing to file a lawsuit against an AI company over a chatbot he said children have formed emotional attachments to. The New Mexico Attorney General\u2019s office declined Fortune\u2019s <\/em>request for comment.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe disagree with the ruling and will appeal,\u201d a Meta spokesperson told Fortune. <\/em>\u201cWe work hard to keep people safe on our platforms and have been transparent about the challenges of identifying and removing bad actors and harmful content. We remain confident in our record of protecting teens online and will continue to defend ourselves against claims that misrepresent the facts.\u201d<\/p>\n

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New Mexico\u2019s legislative effort follows an Aug. 6 ruling in which First Judicial District Judge Bryan Biedscheid ordered Meta to create a $567 million abatement fund on top of $375 million in civil penalties a jury had already imposed in March, bringing the company\u2019s total New Mexico liability to $942 million. The court also imposed reforms lasting five years, including age verification, overnight limits on push notifications, and mandatory time-use limits for users under 18.<\/p>\n

An ongoing debate between privacy and security<\/h2>\n

That tension between the popularity of age verification mandates and the privacy and enforcement problems they raise has defined the broader fight over kids and social media this year. Congress has moved in fits and starts on the Kids Online Safety Act and the App Store Accountability Act, while the Federal Trade Commission has pulled back from social media rulemaking even as kids spend more than four hours a day online. Most Americans doubt existing age verification laws will actually work, and reporting has shown Gen Alpha users easily find ways around the age checks that do exist.<\/p>\n

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Child safety advocates, on the other hand, welcomed Torrez\u2019s legislative push.<\/p>\n

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\u201cWe 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,\u201d Haley Hinkle, policy counsel at child advocacy group Fairplay, told Fortune.<\/em> \u201cStates have been leading the charge to improve our children\u2019s safety and data privacy online. We urge Congress to join the states in this leadership by passing the Kids Online Safety Act, bringing baseline safety by design standards to all children in the U.S.\u201d<\/p>\n

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Julie Scelfo, founder and executive director of Mothers Against Media Addiction (MAMA), told Fortune<\/em>: \u201cIt shouldn\u2019t matter if a company manufactures food, toys, vehicles or digital products. Consumer product safety is the bedrock of a healthy society, and it is long past time for lawmakers to impose basic safeguards to protect children online, ones that Big Tech clearly is unwilling to implement on their own.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cNo company should be allowed to profit from products that intentionally addict and harm our kids. We applaud AG Torrez, as well as other attorneys general and lawmakers nationwide, for helping bring consumer and child safety into the 21st century,\u201d Scelfo continued.<\/p>\n

In the Northern District of California tomorrow, opening statements begin the case brought by the 29 states against Meta. They allege the social media giant designed Facebook and Instagram to keep children and teens on the platforms longer, to the point of physical and mental harm. <\/p>\n

They accuse the company of illegally collecting children\u2019s data in violation of COPPA, the same federal children\u2019s privacy law at the center of the FTC\u2019s rulemaking retreat. The case follows a Ninth Circuit ruling this month rejecting Meta\u2019s bid to use Section 230 immunity to halt the trial, a decision that also cleared the way for thousands of other pending social media harm lawsuits.<\/p>\n

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The trial is expected to run seven weeks, with Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg and Instagram head Adam Mosseri both expected to testify. According to a July court filing by Meta, potential damages in the broader litigation could exceed $1.4 trillion. The company currently has a $1.5 trillion market capitalization.<\/p>\n

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Raul Torrez, New Mexico\u2019s attorney general, is drafting two bills as a separate 29-state trial over child safety opens in Oakland tomorrow.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":5460,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[32],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-5461","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-meta"],"yoast_head":"\nNew Mexico\u2019s attorney general reportedly pushes new social media safety laws a day before 29 AGs testify against Meta in federal trial - Cross Country Moving Team<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/crosscountrymovingteams.com\/?p=5461\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"New Mexico\u2019s attorney general reportedly pushes new social media safety laws a day before 29 AGs testify against Meta in federal trial - 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