Undercover investigation of Meta heads to trial in New Mexico in first
stand-alone case by state
[February 02, 2026] By
MORGAN LEE
SANTA FE, N.M. (AP) — The first stand-alone trial from state prosecutors
in a stream of lawsuits against Meta is getting underway in New Mexico,
with jury selection starting Monday.
New Mexico's case is built on a state undercover investigation using
proxy social media accounts and posing as kids to document sexual
solicitations and the response from Meta, the owner of Facebook,
Instagram and WhatsApp. It could give states a new legal pathway to go
after social media companies over how their platforms affect children,
by using consumer protection and nuisance laws.
Attorney General Raúl Torrez filed suit in 2023, accusing Meta of
creating a marketplace and “breeding ground” for predators who target
children for sexual exploitation and failing to disclose what it knew
about those harmful effects.
“So many regulators are keyed up looking for any evidence of a legal
theory that would punish social media that a victory in that case could
have ripple effects throughout the country, and the globe,” said Eric
Goldman, codirector of the High Tech Law Institute at Santa Clara
University School of Law in California. “Whatever the jury says will be
of substantial interest.”
The trial, with opening statements scheduled for Feb. 9, could last
nearly two months.
Meta denies the civil charges and says prosecutors are taking a
“sensationalist” approach. CEO Mark Zuckerberg was dropped as a
defendant in the case, but he has been deposed and documents in the case
carry his name.
In California, opening arguments are scheduled this week for a personal
injury case in Los Angeles County Superior Court that could determine
how thousands of similar lawsuits against social media companies will
play out.
The allegations against Meta in New Mexico
Prosecutors say New Mexico is not seeking to hold Meta accountable for
content on its platforms, but rather its role in pushing out that
content through complex algorithms that proliferate material that can be
addictive and harmful to children.
The approach could sidestep immunity provisions for social media
platforms under a First Amendment shield and Section 230, a 30-year-old
provision of the U.S. Communications Decency Act that has protected tech
companies from liability for material posted on their platforms.
An undercover investigation by the state created several decoy accounts
for minors 14 and younger, documented the arrival of online sexual
solicitations and monitored Meta’s responses when the behavior was
brought to the company’s attention. The state says Meta’s responses
placed profits ahead of children’s safety.
Torrez, a first-term Democrat elected in 2022, has urged Meta to
implement more effective age verification and remove bad actors from its
platform. He's also seeking changes to algorithms that can serve up
harmful material and criticizing end-to-end privacy encryption that can
prevent the monitoring of communications with children for safety.
Separately, Torrez brought felony criminal charges of child solicitation
by electronic devices against three men in 2024, also using decoy social
media accounts to build that case.
How Meta has responded
Meta denies the civil charges while accusing the attorney general of
cherry-picking select documents and making “sensationalist, irrelevant
and distracting arguments.”
[to top of second column] |
New Mexico Attorney General Raúl Torrez discusses the nexus of
public safety, mental health and adverse child experiences during a
news conference following a summit in Albuquerque, N.M., Nov. 3,
2023. (AP Photo/Susan Montoya Bryan, File)
 In a statement, Meta said ongoing
lawsuits nationwide are attempting to place the blame for teen
mental health struggles on social media companies in a way that
oversimplifies matters. It points to the steady addition of account
settings and tools — including safety features that give teens more
information about the person they’re chatting with and content
restrictions based on PG-13 movie ratings.
Goldman says the company is bringing enormous resources to bear in
courtrooms this year, including New Mexico.
“If they lose this,” he said, “it becomes another beachhead that
might erode their basic business.”
Many other lawsuits are underway
More than 40 state attorneys general have filed lawsuits against
Meta, claiming it is harming young people and contributing to the
youth mental health crisis by deliberately designing features that
addict children to its platforms. The majority filed their lawsuits
in federal court.
The bellwether trial underway in California against social video
companies, including Meta’s Instagram and Google’s YouTube, focuses
on a 19-year-old who claims her use of social media from an early
age addicted her to technology and exacerbated depression and
suicidal thoughts. TikTok and Snapchat parent company Snap Inc.
settled claims in the case that affects thousands of consolidated
plaintiffs.
A federal trial starting in June in Oakland, California, will be the
first to represent school districts that have sued social media
platforms over harms to children.
In New Mexico, prosecutors also sued Snap Inc. over accusations its
platform facilitates child sexual exploitation. Snap says its
platform has built-in safety guardrails and “deliberate design
choices to make it difficult for strangers to discover minors.” A
trial date has not been set.
The jury weighs guilt, but a judge has final say on any sanctions
A jury assembled from residents of Santa Fe County, including the
politically progressive state capital city, will weigh whether Meta
engaged in unfair business practices and to what extent.
But a judge will have final say later on any possible civil
penalties and other remedies, and decide the public nuisance charge
against Meta.
The state's Unfair Practices Act allows penalties of $5,000 per
violation, but it's not yet clear how violations would be tallied.
“The reason the damage potential is so great here is because of how
Facebook works,” said Mollie McGraw, a Las Cruces-based plaintiff’s
attorney. “Meta keeps track of everyone who sees a post. … The
damages here could be significant.”
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