🧠 Food for thought

Implications, context, and why it matters.

New Mexico is seeking broad changes to Meta’s platforms

• The state’s proposed fixes go well past age checks plus limits on autoplay and infinite scroll for minors. New Mexico wants Meta to reject underage accounts with 99% accuracy, a bar Meta says current tech cannot reliably hit or prove 1.
• For minors, New Mexico wants to curb or remove features such as infinite scroll plus autoplay, limit end-to-end encryption, and set a firm 90-hour monthly limit on Meta’s platforms 2.
• The state also wants a court-appointed Child Safety Monitor, an independent overseer on children’s online safety, with power to inspect Meta’s internal systems. Meta would fund the role for at least five years 2.

The New Mexico case is part of a wider push to regulate platform design

• The case follows a legal push against tech companies that centers on product design instead of content alone 3.
• A California jury recently held Meta plus Google liable for harm to a woman who compulsively used Meta’s apps plus Google’s YouTube as a child. The verdict treated the services as defective products because of alleged addictive design and is expected to shape other cases 4.
• The approach lines up with rules such as the European Union’s Digital Services Act, a law for large online platforms. It requires steps on systemic risks to minors, including risks tied to features that can drive excessive use such as infinite scroll 3.
• Taken together, these cases seek to make platforms answer for how their products are built as well as what users post 4.