SANTA FE, N.M. (Legal Newsline) - Facebook owner Meta has moved to dismiss New Mexico’s lawsuit claiming the social-media giant has caused a public nuisance and even increased suicides by using algorithms and other tricks to hook children on its services and serve them pornographic content.
First, New Mexico doesn’t have personal jurisdiction over the company, Meta said in a Jan. 23 filing. Aside from a data center in La Lunas, the company said, Meta does no business in the state and none of the wrongful acts the New Mexico alleges occurred within the state.
Federal courts around the country have rejected state jurisdiction in cases where a media company merely allows residents to access its content, Meta said.
Further, many of the things New Mexico complains about, including sexual images, are prohibited under Meta’s rules and represent third-party content covered by Section 230 prohibiting lawsuits against social media platforms, Meta said.
New Mexico Attorney General Raúl Torrez announced the lawsuit in December, claiming Meta’s Facebook, Instagram and Whatsapp products “are not safe spaces for children but rather prime locations for predators to trade child pornography and solicit minors for sex.” New Mexico is represented by Linda Singer and David Ackerman of Motley Rice, the plaintiffs’ law firm that has been paid hundreds of millions of dollars in fees representing government entities in lawsuits over opioids, tobacco and other products.
The lawsuit joins many others against social media platforms, driven in part by private lawyers working under contingency-fee contracts, that attempt to use state public nuisance and consumer protection laws to win money from Facebook, Snap and other companies.
A federal judge in San Francisco last year overseeing multidistrict litigation dismissed some claims on Section 230 and First Amendment grounds but allowed plaintiffs to proceed with claims design features that serve up content or reward users with “likes” could be grounds for a lawsuit.
New Mexico also sued Facebook Chief Executive Mark Zuckerberg, who has also filed a motion to dismiss.
The state accused Meta of violating state law by serving up ads with “problematic content” and using algorithms that are “addictive to young users” and designed to inhibit “the ability of those users to self-regulate.” It said the platforms cause “an increased rate of suicide” as well as “dissociative behavior, withdrawal symptoms, social isolation, damage to body image and self-worth, increased risky behavior, exposure to predators, sexual exploitation, and other profound mental health issues.”
Meta argued it is “black-letter law” that New Mexico users can’t create personal jurisdiction over the company. It also cited a Ninth Circuit decision last year dismissing under Section 230 claims against Reddit that the platform allowed users to access child pornography. And it said New Mexico’s public nuisance law doesn’t apply to legal products, or claims that involve injuries to individuals as opposed to interference with a right held by the public at large.