Judge considers ordering Meta to revamp its apps - POLITICO

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Judge considers ordering Meta to revamp its apps<br>The expected order may set a precedent for states to compel structural changes to social media apps.

Meta and Facebook logos are seen on screens on Jan. 8, 2025, in Santa Rosa, Philippines. | Ezra Acayan/Getty Images

By Hassan Ali Kanu05/22/2026 04:55 PM EDT

A New Mexico state judge on Friday appeared ready to label Meta’s social media apps a public nuisance, a determination that would have potentially far-reaching ripple effects on the $1.5 trillion tech giant and its multinational competitors.<br>Judge Bryan Biedscheid indicated during a remedies hearing Friday that he will likely issue a first-of-its-kind ruling holding that harms caused by Meta’s products amount to a “public nuisance” and warrant an order to mitigate those problems.

A jury in March tagged the company with $375 million in financial penalties for thousands of violations of the state’s consumer protection and child safety laws. Meta, Snap, TikTok and Google’s YouTube are facing thousands of related lawsuits brought by school districts, families and other plaintiffs across the nation.

Biedscheid suggested he is considering requiring Meta to implement an independent safety monitor, pause app notifications for young users during school hours, engage more directly with parents and school districts, and adopt stronger policies to ban users posting sexually explicit and harmful content involving children. Meta will also likely be ordered to implement stronger and more visible health and safety warnings directly into its platforms.<br>Such a ruling could result in fundamental changes to some of the most widely used social media apps in the world, including Instagram and Whatsapp. It would also likely prompt legal action to address similar harms in other jurisdictions.<br>A Meta spokesperson pointed Politico to Biedscheid’s previous comments that some of the relief requested by New Mexico Attorney General Raúl Torrez amounts to overreach, describing Torrez’ strategy as “misguided.”<br>“The State’s case ignores the hundreds of apps teens use daily and fails to provide scientific or legal justification for their demands of Meta,” the spokesperson said. “We remain committed to providing safe, age-appropriate experiences and have already launched many of the protections the state seeks, including 13 safety measures this past year.”<br>Torrez in a statement on Friday said the jury’s verdict established that Big Tech can and will be held accountable for violating consumer safety laws. “It is time for Mark Zuckerberg to finally prioritize child safety, and I am looking forward to hearing the judge’s ruling on the changes Meta must make to protect children in New Mexico.”<br>Meta argued during the remedies phase that other platforms have not implemented much of the relief requested and that many of the measures are impossible to implement or would make its apps less safe.<br>Biedscheid on Friday cautioned that some of Torrez’s requested relief is too nebulous or impractical.<br>The request for an outside monitor has positive aspects, for example, but likely needs to be curtailed to some degree, the judge said. “I also have been attuned to areas where a monitor essentially becoming Mark Zuckerberg’s unwitting partner is overreach in some ways, or at least doesn’t provide clarity,” Biedscheid said.<br>Still, a ruling along the lines the judge appears to be contemplating would mark a massive turning point in major litigation around the country seeking to hold big tech accountable for alleged harms caused by the industry’s products. Meta is a defendant in two massive coordinated legal actions making similar allegations regarding social media harms, one in federal courts and another in California state courts.

Filed Under: Social Media<br>Facebook<br>Meta<br>Safety

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