New Mexico's attorney general reportedly pushes new social media safety laws a day before 29 AGs testify against Meta in federal trial

New Mexico Attorney General Raúl Torrez is working with lawmakers on two bills aimed at stronger consumer protection and child safety online, with the draft legislation expected in the coming weeks. The push goes beyond social media. It would also reach artificial intelligence and chatbots, widening the fight from Facebook and Instagram to newer tools that kids are already using.

The timing is hard to miss. On Tuesday, 29 state attorneys general are set to open their federal trial against Meta in Oakland, California. Torrez’s effort builds on New Mexico’s own case against the company, where a judge on Aug. 6 ordered Meta to create a $567 million abatement fund after a jury had already imposed $375 million in civil penalties in March. That brought the company’s total New Mexico liability to $942 million.

One of the new bills would remove the cap on penalties under New Mexico’s consumer protection laws. Torrez said his office is still pressing Congress for stronger federal action, but is also trying to update state law now. He described the goal as a broader social media safety bill, not just a one-off Meta response.

The state is not stopping there. Torrez said his office is also pursuing a separate case against Meta over data privacy and civic harms, with trial expected in September. And he is preparing to sue an AI company over a chatbot he says children have formed emotional attachments to. Meta, for its part, said it disagrees with the ruling, will appeal, and remains confident in its record of protecting teens.

The broader politics are messy, and familiar. Age verification has become popular, but privacy and enforcement problems keep dogging it. Congress has moved slowly on the Kids Online Safety Act and the App Store Accountability Act, while the FTC has pulled back from social media rulemaking. Meanwhile, the states are still pushing, and the federal case now gets a seven-week trial with Mark Zuckerberg and Adam Mosseri expected to testify.