{"id":66059,"date":"2026-05-11T11:13:13","date_gmt":"2026-05-11T11:13:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/people\/66059\/"},"modified":"2026-05-11T11:13:13","modified_gmt":"2026-05-11T11:13:13","slug":"inside-metas-threat-to-exit-new-mexico-over-kids-safety-rules","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/people\/66059\/","title":{"rendered":"Inside Meta’s threat to exit New Mexico over kids safety rules"},"content":{"rendered":"

Mark Zuckerberg\u2019s threat to shut down Instagram and Facebook in New Mexico<\/a>\u00a0over the state\u2019s demands for kids safety protections is a tactic he has previously used to dodge regulations \u2013 but as the lawsuits pile up, experts say the act is wearing thin.<\/p>\n

Meta\u2019s warning came last month on the eve of a trial in which a state judge will rule whether to impose strict safety rules in New Mexico against the social media giant, which was slapped with $375 million in civil penalties for failing to protect underage users from sexual predators.<\/p>\n

Once an effective tool for gaining leverage and grabbing headlines, the shutdown threats are quickly becoming impractical for Meta, according to James Grimmelmann, a professor at Cornell Law School.<\/p>\n

\u201cIn the long run, the problem for Meta is that similar pressure will be coming from other states, both in lawsuits and from regulation,\u201d Grimmelmann said. \u201cAt some point, it won\u2019t just be a separate app for New Mexico, it\u2019ll be an app to meet the (broadly similar) demands of 15 states.\u201d<\/p>\n

Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg appears on Capitol Hill. Michael Brochstein\/ZUMA Press Wire \/ Shutterstock<\/p>\n

Meta currently faces more than 2,400 pending lawsuits<\/a> around the country, including claims from more than 40 state attorneys general. In April, Meta was ordered to pay damages after being found liable in Los Angeles state court for fueling social media addiction.<\/a><\/p>\n

In 2022, Meta threatened to\u00a0cut off Instagram and Facebook access in Europe<\/a>\u00a0during a dispute over data-sharing rules \u2013 which led European lawmaker Axel Voss to accuse the company of \u201cblackmail.\u201d Meta has yet to follow through on that threat, but its relations with the EU have crumbled as the bloc moves ahead with strict tech regulation.<\/p>\n

Elsewhere, Meta has blocked all news content on its app in Canada since 2023 in response to a law requiring the firm to pay media outlets their fair share for content. It briefly enacted a similar shutdown in Australia in 2021, only to reverse course after striking a deal with local officials. Meta and Australia were still trading barbs over payments for news content<\/a> as recently as last week.<\/p>\n

Hany Farid, a professor at the University of California, Berkeley who once helped Microsoft develop tools to detect child sex abuse material, said Meta\u2019s threats to shut down \u201csimply won\u2019t scale across the US.\u201d<\/p>\n

New Mexico Attorney General Raul Torrez speaks at a press conference. AP<\/p>\n

\u201cMeta and others tried this stunt when the EU started cracking down on abuses. It didn\u2019t work then and it won\u2019t work now,\u201d Farid told The Post. \u201cEven if Meta does go through with this threat, New Mexico is only the first state in what is almost certainly going to be a long line of similar state lawsuits.\u201d<\/p>\n

Meta is likely banking that its threats in New Mexico will cause \u201cthe kind of uprising that some cities faced when they tried to ban Uber and other ride-hailing apps,\u201d according to Grimmelmann.<\/p>\n

\u201cMeta and other social-media companies is that they are now so broadly hated that if Meta pulled out, it might not drive big a user revolt,\u201d Grimmelmann said. <\/p>\n

Uber and Airbnb infamously used similar tactics in 2015 when trying to kill legislation targeting their businesses in New York City. More recently in 2024, TikTok, which faced a total US ban over its ties to China, urged users to call Congress. The campaign backfired spectacularly when users placed calls threatening suicide<\/a> or physical harm against lawmakers.<\/p>\n

The difference, according to Grimmelmann, is that public attitudes have turned negative in recent years, as lawsuits accuse Meta and other companies of fueling a teen mental health crisis that fueled anxiety, depression, self-harm and even suicide.<\/p>\n

A New Mexico jury recently slapped Meta with $375M in penalties. Getty Images<\/p>\n

\u201cLeaving the state would actually be a very interesting test of whether Meta\u2019s users are dedicated, or just use its apps because they\u2019re right there and other people are using them,\u201d he added. \u201cPeople might just shrug and switch to other apps.\u201d<\/p>\n

Meta claims the remedies sought by New Mexico Attorney General Ra\u00fal Torrez \u2013 including more effective age verification and algorithms that prioritize user safety\u00a0over engagement \u2013 are \u201cso broad and so burdensome\u201d that it may have no choice but to leave the state.<\/p>\n

In an exclusive statement to The Post, Torrez rejected that argument, describing it as a \u201cpressure campaign from a company that has run out of legal arguments.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThey lost at trial, and rather than build a safer product, they\u2019re threatening to take their ball and go home. It won\u2019t work. New Mexico may be a small state, but we won\u2019t be bullied by a company that has spent years choosing profits over the safety of children,\u201d Torrez said.<\/p>\n

Torrez\u2019s team is pushing for up to $3.7 billion in penalties for Meta. Other proposed remedies include a court-appointed child safety monitor, limits on end-to-end encrypted messaging for minors and warning labels alerting the public to the risks of using Instagram and Facebook.<\/p>\n

Meta argues that New Mexico\u2019s proposals are impossible to implement. AP<\/p>\n

Meta has presented its potential exit as a nuclear option if it is unable to achieve a compromise in court. The company has argued that some of New Mexico\u2019s demands, such as a 99% detection rate for new child sex abuse material, are an impossible standard for any company to meet.<\/p>\n

\u201cIn targeting a single platform, the State ignores the hundreds of other apps teens use, leaving parents without the comprehensive support they actually deserve,\u201d Meta spokesman Andy Stone said in a statement. <\/p>\n

\u201cWhile it is not in Meta\u2019s interests to do so, if a workable solution to Attorney General Torrez\u2019s demands is not reached, we may have no choice but to remove access to its platforms for users in New Mexico entirely,\u201d Stone added.<\/p>\n

Judge Bryan Biedscheid appeared somewhat sympathetic to Meta\u2019s argument, telling the court on the first day of the remedy trial that he was concerned some of the proposed changes would amount to \u201coverreach.\u201d<\/p>\n

The remedy phase of New Mexico\u2019s court battle with Meta began earlier this month. AP<\/p>\n

At the same time, Biedscheid has seemed supportive of some of Torrez\u2019s safety proposals, such as the concept of a court-appointed child safety monitor to ensure Meta is complying with state law and making its products safer.<\/p>\n

During a May 5 hearing, the judge quipped that a monitor would be able to \u201cmove fast and track things\u201d \u2013 a play on Zuckerberg\u2019s infamous internal motto \u201cmove fast and break things.\u201d<\/p>\n

Meta\u2019s filings in New Mexico are surely \u201cintended as a threat\u201d meant to show regulators that their proposals could backfire in other ways, such as irritating adult users who will also be affected, said Eric Goldman, who co-directs the High Tech Law Institute at Santa Clara University in California.<\/p>\n

A New Mexico jury found Meta liable for failing to protect minors from online sex predators. Louis-Paul Photo \u2013 stock.adobe.com<\/p>\n

At the same time, Meta can only make the threats so many times before shutdowns start to materially impact its business. Goldman referenced similar tactics employed by Pornhub, which is now blocked in 23 out of 50 states due to age verification laws.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere are so many laws across the country and the globe that are restricting Meta\u2019s behavior that Meta cannot opt out of any one jurisdiction \u2013 because ultimately, it\u2019s going to be kicked out of all of them,\u201d said Goldman.<\/p>\n

Critics of the company, such as the Tech Oversight Project, argue that Meta\u2019s strenuous arguments against the safety features are evidence that profit is its main priority.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt speaks volumes about Meta\u2019s values that they would rather issue threats than make their products less addictive or block predators from contacting minors. If Meta is trying to intimidate you, you\u2019re doing something right,\u201d said Sacha Haworth, executive director at the Tech Oversight Project.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Mark Zuckerberg\u2019s threat to shut down Instagram and Facebook in New Mexico\u00a0over the state\u2019s demands for kids safety…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":66060,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[154],"tags":[6317,474,2935,2967,618,994,4158,1087,2110,25478,12311],"class_list":{"0":"post-66059","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-mark-zuckerberg","8":"tag-addiction","9":"tag-business","10":"tag-facebook","11":"tag-instagram","12":"tag-mark-zuckerberg","13":"tag-meta","14":"tag-new-mexico","15":"tag-social-media","16":"tag-tech","17":"tag-teens","18":"tag-trials"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@people\/116555651801415248","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/people\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/66059","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/people\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/people\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/people\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/people\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=66059"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/people\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/66059\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/people\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/66060"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/people\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=66059"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/people\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=66059"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/people\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=66059"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}