Phase two of the massive lawsuit against Meta being held at the District court in Santa Fe, New Mexico with the state trying to prove that Meta is a Public Nuisance.
Phase one finishing up back in March.
Attorney General Raul Torres sued Meta for $2 billion claiming the social media giant failed to protect kids against sexual predators and misled the public on the harms that he says Facebook poses to the public.
A jury found that Meta violated the state’s unfair practices act resulting in a $375 million penalty.
Phase 2 – is a bench trial, meaning no jury, just a judge and Torres is looking for even more money this time around.
He wants $3.7 billion plus he wants to court to order meta to adhere to 7 pages of new requirements
David Ackerman delivering the opening statement for the state – heavily emphasizing the harm he says is being caused by Meta claiming that the platform doesn’t make any changes unless its forced to.
He appeared to focus more on the emotional aspects of the case, almost as if he was speaking in front of a jury. Every time he said the words children, or kids or mental health they were heavily emphasized and he told the judge that
“Children are begging for help – there is a mental health crisis, and it is fueled and caused by social media, and we need to fix it. “
Opening statement for the state seemed more emotional based rather than seeded in case law.
On the flip side Meta says that what the state is asking for is not only unprecedented but has been shot down by multiple courts, including state supreme courts.
Alex Parkinson delivering the opening statement for the social media giant and providing the court with a long list of examples of courts across the nation striking down Public nuisance cases that attempted to aggregate individual personal injury claims – which is what he says New Mexico is attempting to do.
He also said that the $3.7 billion dollar ask is not abatement – which basically means an amount that will fix the harm already caused – but rather monetary damages that the state will use to revamp and expand on their Mental health services statewide for the next 15 years.
Meta says that while devastating, mental health issues were around before social media, and New Mexico is unfairly targeting Facebook when there are multiple different social media platforms people use.
