A New Mexico judge on Thursday granted Mark Zuckerberg’s request to dismiss a lawsuit accusing his company of failing to protect young users on its social media platforms from sexual exploitation.
The case is one of many filed against Meta and its platform by states, school districts and parents over concerns about child exploitation. In addition to courtrooms across the United States, the issue has been a topic of congressional hearings as lawmakers and parents grow increasingly concerned about the impact of social media on young people’s lives.
In New Mexico, Attorney General Raul Torres indicted Mehta and Zuckerberg late last year following an undercover online investigation.
In granting Zuckerberg’s request, Judge Brian Biedscheid denied Mehta’s motion seeking to dismiss the state’s claims, marking what Torrez said is a key step in the case against the social media giant .
“For decades, meta-platforms have blocked nearly every legal challenge against them,” Torrez said in a statement. “Today, the New Mexico Department of Justice ends that era with the first-ever initiative by the state attorney general.” Allegations of child sexual exploitation have been brought forward and all social media platforms that harm their users should take note.
Separately, attorneys general from 33 states, including California and New York, filed charges in late October, saying Instagram and Facebook contained features intentionally designed to attract children and contribute to a teen mental health crisis.
As for Zuckerberg, Biedscheid said he doesn’t believe the state’s argument that the executive branch should remain involved in New Mexico’s lawsuit, but noted that could change as the case against Meta proceeds, depending on Evidence presented.
Torrez’s office said it will continue to evaluate whether Zuckerberg should be singled out by name in the future.
Meta’s attorneys argued at the hearing that prosecutors could not prove the company’s activities specifically targeted New Mexico residents, meaning the company could be subject to personal jurisdiction. They said the platforms are available globally and users agree to terms of service when signing up.
Prosecutors told the judge that New Mexico was not holding Meta responsible for its content, but rather holding Meta to push that content through complex algorithms that spread lurid, addictive and harmful content.
Serena Wheaton, assistant attorney general for the Consumer Protection Division, said design features and how people interact with them are the problem.
Earlier this month, Torrez announced charges against three men accused of using Meta’s social media platform to target children and solicit sex acts. The arrests were the result of a month-long undercover operation in which the suspects were linked to decoy accounts set up by the state Department of Justice.
The investigation began in December, when the state filed a lawsuit against the company.
At the time of the arrest, Torrez blamed Meta executives — including Zuckerberg — and suggested the company put profits ahead of the interests of parents and children.
Meta disputes the accusations, saying it uses technology to prevent suspicious adults from discovering or interacting with children and teenagers on its apps and works with law enforcement to investigate and prosecute offenders.
As part of the New Mexico lawsuit, prosecutors said they discovered internal documents in which Meta employees estimated that about 100,000 children were sexually molested on the company’s platform every day.
