Meta has warned it may withdraw Facebook, Instagram, and WhatsApp from New Mexico if a state court sides with the attorney general’s demand for sweeping platform changes, calling many of the requirements “technologically or practically infeasible.”
The threat, disclosed in a court filing in April 2026, follows a $375 million jury award against Meta in a trial that argued the company misled New Mexico users about the safety of its products. Attorney General Raúl Torrez is now asking the court to order a range of remedies, including a ban on end-to-end encryption for minors, mandatory age verification, and a requirement that Meta detect 99 percent of new child sexual abuse material (CSAM) uploaded to its services.
Meta argues the 99 percent CSAM detection threshold is mathematically impossible to verify. “Doing the calculation would require that Meta detect 100% of CSAM to use as the denominator,” the company states in its filing. It also contends that replacing its current age estimation methods — birthday collection at sign-up, age-change protections, and predictive models — with ID uploads or facial scans could produce less accurate results and invite circumvention. Meta adds that federal children’s privacy law may prohibit it from retaining the data needed to classify users under 13 in the state.
Torrez rejected Meta’s framing. “Meta’s refusal to follow the laws that protect our kids tells you everything you need to know about this company and the character of its leaders,” he said in a statement, arguing that Meta has previously redesigned products and adjusted policies to maintain market access in other contexts. “This is not about technological capability. Meta simply refuses to place the safety of children ahead of engagement, advertising revenue, and profit.”
Meta countered that its Teen Accounts feature already addresses many of New Mexico’s concerns and proposed more limited remedies, including adjustments to its age assurance models and funding for law enforcement training on internet crimes against children.
Torrez warned that even if Meta exits New Mexico, it may find fewer options elsewhere. He noted that dozens of attorneys general across the country are pursuing similar actions against social media companies, suggesting any withdrawal would be “a shortsighted and temporary attempt to deflect and delay the inevitable.”
Source: The Verge