Meta threatens to shut down social networks in New Mexico over child safety court case
Meta has threatened to block access to Instagram, Facebook and WhatsApp in New Mexico, which would be an unprecedented move in its home country.The ultimatum, made in a court filing this week, comes after the company was found liable and fined $375m for child safety failures in a landmark lawsuit brought by the state’s attorney general.The second phase of the suit, known as the remedies phase, is scheduled to begin on Monday and will determine what actions the tech giant is obligated to take in response.Should Meta lose the second phase of trial, which will begin on 4 May, it would be compelled to introduce a series of reforms to its products.The New Mexico department of justice argues these changes would make Meta’s social networks safer for underage users in the state.
Meta has argued these reforms are unfeasible and it would be left with little option but to withdraw its services completely.“Many of the requests are technologically or practically infeasible and would essentially force Meta to build entirely separate apps for use only in New Mexico,” states Meta’s court filing.“Therefore, granting onerous relief could compel Meta to entirely withdraw Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp from the state as the only feasible means of compliance.”A revamp would include building and operating two different versions of Teen Accounts for Facebook and Instagram, and doing so would be technologically challenging and costly, the filing states.New Mexico’s attorney general, Raúl Torrez, who filed the lawsuit against Meta, called the threat to withdraw a “PR stunt” in a statement.
“We know Meta has the ability to make these changes.For years, the company has rewritten its own rules, redesigned its products and even bent to the demands of dictators to preserve market access.This is not about technological capability.Meta simply refuses to place the safety of children ahead of engagement, advertising revenue and profit.”A verdict for the first phase of the trial was reached in March.
A jury ordered Meta to pay $375m in civil penalties after finding the company misled consumers about platform safety and enabled harms including child sexual exploitation,The lawsuit was filed by the state attorney general in December 2023, the first jury trial to hold Meta liable for actions on its platform,It followed a Guardian investigation published in April of that year that found Facebook and Instagram had become marketplaces for child sex trafficking, and was cited multiple times in the complaint,The second phase of the lawsuit is a bench trial that is expected to last three weeks,The New Mexico department of justice said it will argue that Meta’s platforms constitute a public nuisance and seek court-ordered reforms to protect children.
They include effective age verification to prevent adults from posing as minors, ensuring that all teens receive appropriate safeguards and enforcing minimum age requirements for pre-teens; safer recommendation algorithms that do not prioritize engagement over children’s wellbeing; prominent warning labels about platform risks; permanent bans for adults who engage in or facilitate child exploitation; and restrictions on end-to-end encryption for minors to prevent predators from operating in secrecy.The state’s proposed reforms would be enforced by independent oversight through a court-appointed child safety monitor.In a virtual press conference on 30 April, Torrez said his office is exploring qualified independent technical monitors from around the country, but a particular one has not yet been identified.“The New Mexico attorney general’s focus on a single platform is a misguided strategy that ignores the hundreds of other apps teens use daily.Rather than providing comprehensive protections, the state’s proposed mandates infringe on parental rights and stifle free expression for all New Mexicans,” said a Meta spokesperson.
When asked by the Guardian whether other platforms would be required to adopt these measures, or if the state plans to introduce child safety regulations across all platforms, a spokesperson for the New Mexico attorney general’s office said its current focus is on Meta because it has been found liable in court.In Meta’s most recent filing, it argued against the state’s allegation that its platforms are a public nuisance because Meta does not compel anyone to use its services.“Were it otherwise, fast-food chains would be liable for creating a public nuisance by selling food that can contribute to obesity,” the filing states.
Starmer restores powers to ousted hereditary peers in Lords shake-up
Dozens of hereditary peers whose seats have been abolished have had their lawmaking powers restored as Keir Starmer seeks to accelerate changes to the House of Lords.It is understood that 15 Conservative hereditary peers, two Labour and nine crossbenchers have been handed life peerages, enabling their return to the red benches.The apparent concession was made in a bid to end a long battle over Starmer’s plans to remove the right of the last remaining hereditary peers to sit in the Lords, a commitment made in Labour’s 2024 manifesto.A government source described the parliamentary session that has just ended as “tortuous” given that every stage of the bill to abolish hereditary peers has resulted in considerable disruption in the Lords, as well as demands in private meetings for compensation for removed peers.The peers have already been subject to a due diligence process run by the House of Lords appointment commission, which includes a check by HM Revenue and Customs
Polanski criticised for reposting comment suggesting police arresting Golders Greens suspect used excessive force – as it happened
The Green party leader, Zack Polanski, has been criticised for retweeting a post on X suggesting that the police used excessive force when they arrested the suspect in the Golders Green attack.Polanski, a profilic user of social media, reposted without comment a tweet which, referring to Mark Rowley, the Met police commissioner, contained the message message: “So essentially his officers were repeatedly and violently kicking a mentally ill man in the head when he was already incapacitated by a Taser.”Mike Tapp, a Home Office minister, responded by saying:double quotation markI’m disgusted that anyone with this view is leading any political party. The Green Party has hit a new low.A spokesperson for the Jewish Labour Movement said:double quotation markThe Jewish community is hugely grateful to the police for apprehending a knife-wielding terrorist before he stabbed more Jews
It’s amazing how much damage Kemi can do to herself in five minutes on local radio | John Crace
It was the sort of day that every politician dreads. One where you can’t not say and do something. The pressure to come up with the right words. The knowledge that even if you do find the right words, they still won’t be enough.Nothing anyone can say can mitigate the horror of the latest antisemitic attacks in north London on Wednesday
Labour calls on Jenrick to give £37,500 campaign donation to charity amid electoral law investigation
Labour has called on Robert Jenrick to give up almost £40,000 donated to his campaign to be Conservative leader in 2024 following allegations that the sum came from an impermissible foreign donor now convicted of fraud.The party called for Jenrick to make a donation to charity after the Guardian revealed the Electoral Commission has been investigating claims that £37,500 out of £100,000 given to his campaign by a UK company Spott Fitness ultimately came from a company run by a US-based businessman, Gary Klopfenstein.The watchdog has also referred evidence to the police to assess whether any electoral laws have been broken. Its inquiries are now paused while the police review the material. The exact scope of the review is unclear and the police have not confirmed whether it relates to any specific individual
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It has been an election buildup dominated by the rise of Reform UK and the Greens, and the contrasting woes of Labour and the Tories. But there is a chance that on 8 May the Liberal Democrats, largely ignored in recent weeks, could wake up as the biggest party in English local government.This is just one of several paradoxes for the party’s leader, Ed Davey, and his team. They are fifth in many national polls, with a rating barely changed from 2024. But Lib Dem bosses are sanguine, convinced that UK politics is now so different, so atomised, to make headline polling almost irrelevant
Mapped: the elections that could deliver ‘unprecedented’ losses for Labour
Labour is on track for its worst local election performance next Thursday, data analysed by the Guardian shows, in a blow that will pile further pressure on Keir Starmer’s leadership.Barring a drastic change in fortunes, Labour’s vote-share could fall to historic lows across elections for councils in England and devolved parliaments in Wales and Scotland on 7 May, with big gains for Reform, the Greens and nationalist parties, according to recent polling.The collapse in support is particularly existential in the race for the Welsh parliament, the Senedd, which Labour has dominated since its creation in 1999.Polling shows Labour’s vote share falling by more than half in Wales, enough to push the party into third place, with Reform and Plaid Cymru vying for first.Labour’s long-term decline in Scotland is expected to continue, with the Scottish National party likely to remain in power in Holyrood and Reform headed for second place
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