Meta is about to go on trial in New Mexico, accused of not doing sufficient to guard youngsters from sexual exploitation on its platforms. Because the court docket date will get nearer, Meta’s attorneys are working onerous to restrict what can be utilized in opposition to the corporate in court docket.
In accordance with public data reviewed by Wired, the corporate needs to dam analysis about social media’s impression on youth psychological well being, tales about teen suicides linked to social media, any point out of Meta’s funds, the corporate’s previous privateness violations, and even issues about CEO Mark Zuckerberg’s school years.
These efforts are a part of a lawsuit filed by New Mexico Lawyer Basic Raúl Torrez in late 2023. The state accuses Meta of failing to guard minors from on-line predators, trafficking, and sexual abuse on its platforms. The case claims Meta allegedly allowed express materials to succeed in minors and didn’t put enough youngster security measures in place.
Notably, this lawsuit is taken into account the primary trial of its variety on the state degree, scheduled to start on February 2.
It’s pretty customary that Meta would attempt to hold the case as slender as attainable. Nonetheless, two authorized skilled that talked to Wired consider its try and hold out a lot info is unusually broad, together with its requests to not point out its AI chatbots.
Moreover, Meta requested that the court docket block any point out of a public well being warning issued by former US surgeon common Vivek Murthy concerning social media’s impact on youth psychological well being. The corporate additionally doesn’t need surveys (together with its personal) in regards to the quantity of inappropriate content material on its platforms. It argues that every one this info is irrelevant or may unfairly sway the jury.
