At the center of a consequential case about social media liability is a key question: did Meta lie or mislead the public about the safety of its platform, while knowing something very different?
New Mexico
New Mexico goes to trial to accuse Meta of facilitating child predators
The state of New Mexico opened its case Monday arguing that public statements by Meta’s top executives regularly contradicted its own internal discussions and research about the harm Facebook and Instagram posed to teens. According to Don Migliori, an attorney for the state, Meta prioritized profits and its stated commitment to free expression over the safety of young users on Facebook and Instagram. Meanwhile, Meta attorney Kevin Huff told the New Mexico jury that Meta hadn’t deceived anyone, and that the company actually regularly discloses potential risks on its services. These disclosures happen, Huff said, because the company can’t always catch violations of its terms of service right away. “This case is not about whether there is bad content on Facebook and Instagram,” Huff told the jury. Though horrible things can sometimes make it past the platform’s guardrails, he said, “the evidence will show that Meta told the truth.”
“This case is not about whether there is bad content on Facebook and Instagram”
The case is one of two high profile trials over social media liability that commenced with opening arguments on Monday. The other is taking place in a state courthouse in Los Angeles, where attorneys for a young plaintiff identified by the initials K.G.M. are alleging that Meta and YouTube designed their products in ways that led to compulsive use, harming the mental health of their users. The LA trial is the first bellwether for several lawsuits against social media companies set to take place in the same courthouse, alleging similar harms to users.
The case in New Mexico, brought by the state’s attorney general Raúl Torrez, also argues that Meta designed its products in addictive ways. But this case additionally involved an investigation using decoy accounts that allegedly lured suspected child predators on Meta’s services. According to the opening statement, three suspected child predators were arrested as a result of that sting.
The jury will have to decide whether Meta made false statements or deceived consumers about the potential harms of using Instagram or Facebook. In his opening statement to the jurors, Migliori repeatedly juxtaposed slides that showed “what Meta said” and “what Meta knew.”
On the slides detailing what Meta said, he showed statements by company executives, including CEO Mark Zuckerberg, saying things like that kids under 13 were not allowed on its platforms, or that users over 19 weren’t allowed to send private messages to teen accounts that don’t follow them. Then, Migliori would display slides that he said showed Meta knew the reality was different — for instance, executives estimated 4 million accounts under 13 years of age were on Instagram. In one 2018 email from Zuckerberg to top executives, the CEO wrote that he found it “untenable to subordinate free expression in the way that communicating the idea of ‘Safety First’ suggests,” and added, “Keeping people safe is the counterbalance and not the main point.”
After Migliori finished his opening statement, Huff urged jurors to give Meta a chance to make its case and not to get “distracted by the disturbing pictures.” Huff didn’t deny that there’s some bad stuff on Facebook and Instagram, but said the company is upfront about that, and works on ways to mitigate it. “We wish the state would partner with us, rather than sue us.”
“No one is going to overdose on Facebook”
The state plans to call several former Meta employees, who will — according to the state — describe the company’s inadequate response to harmful behavior on its platforms. At least two of the former employees have previously testified before Congress: former Facebook engineering director and Instagram consultant Arturo Bejar and former Meta researcher Jason Sattizahn. Huff specifically urged the jurors to give Meta a chance to question Sattizahn before they reach any conclusions about his credibility. He also previewed Meta’s argument that what people might colloquially call social media addiction is misnamed. Addictions to substances like fentanyl can cause physical effects like withdrawal; presumably Meta will argue that social media does not create physical dependency. “Facebook is not like fentanyl,” Huff said. “No one is going to overdose on Facebook. Scientific studies say that people don’t get withdrawal symptoms when they stop using Facebook like you would if you stopped using fentanyl.” The first witness to take the stand was an assistant principal who dealt with behavioral issues in students allegedly related to social media use.
Even before the trial began, Meta and the AG’s office were sparring in public. Meta spokesperson Andy Stone recently posted a lengthy thread on X accusing Torrez of using the case for his own political gain, and called the investigation into the company “ethically compromised.” While Torrez accuses Meta of putting profits over kids safety, Stone accuses Torrez of opting “for a self-promotional political victory over child safety.” Stone wrote that Torrez’s office used images of real kids without consent for the fake profiles they created as “bait” for child predators on Meta’s platforms. The AG’s office used “aged” accounts that Stone said are “often hacked accounts resold on illicit markets,” which he said would taint any evidence “because these are real accounts with real histories that behave in particular ways.”
“Instead of making its products safer, Meta is spending its time and resources falsely smearing law enforcement officials who put child predators behind bars,” deputy communications director at the New Mexico Department of Justice Chelsea Pitvorec said in a statement responding to Stone’s thread. “The company is deflecting attention from New Mexico’s undercover investigation because even Meta’s highest-paid PR flacks cannot defend why Meta’s platforms expose children to criminals. Our lawsuit alleges that Meta has misled the public about the dangers of its platforms for years, and we are not surprised to see the company continue to make blatantly false statements while our trial is underway. We look forward to presenting the jury with the evidence we’ve obtained in over two years of litigation.”
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LAS CRUCES, N.M. (KFOX14/CBS4) — A leader in the New Mexico Republican Party was arrested Wednesday, accused of a deadly hit-and-run in Las Cruces.
Former Treasurer of the Republican Party in New Mexico, Kimberly Ann Skaggs, 54, was arrested Wednesday and charged with leaving the scene and tampering with evidence, jail records show.
Police documents show the charges stem from a deadly hit-and-run crash that happened Monday afternoon, which killed 40-year-old bicyclist, Andrew Brown.
Investigators believed Skaggs was involved after an investigation revealed that Skaggs allegedly was driving fast in the area, fled the scene after the crash and then tried to hide the vehicle from authorities.
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The investigation
According to police documents, a witness at the scene of the crash– 850 N. Fairacres Rd.– described seeing a dark blonde-haired woman flee in a black Cadillac Escalade SUV.
Afterwards, investigators said they saw on Flock cameras– A.I. powered license plate readers– a black Cadillac Escalade traveling near the site of the crash minutes before the incident.
READ MORE: Dona Ana County expands Flock license plate cameras as officials cite crime-solving gains
The license plates showed that the vehicle belonged to Skaggs and that, in September 2025, the Las Cruces Police Department had given her a citation for “racing on streets-exhibition driving.”
Investigators stated that a business on Picacho Ave. captured what they alleged was the same black Cadillac Escalade driving fast.
Then, the documents described how investigators tracked down the Escalade using OnStar’s live GPS tracking, discovering the SUV was at a property on the 5000 block of Northwind Road, which investigators said the Dona Ana County Assessors Office confirmed is a property owned by Skaggs.
On Tuesday, at around 6:41 p.m.– over 24 hours after the deadly hit-and-run– investigators executed a search warrant on the property and described finding the black Cadillac Escalade behind a home, under a red metal carport.
Investigators noted damage on the SUV consistent with the crash, highlighting that there was blood splatter near one of the front tires, markings on the front bumper consistent with hitting a bicycle and parts missing, which investigators said were the same parts found at the scene.
Dona Ana County jail records show Skaggs was booked on Wednesday afternoon and remains jailed without a bond.
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About Skaggs
On the official website of the Republican Party of New Mexico, Skaggs was listed as the treasurer before she was removed.
KFOX14/CBS4 has reached out to the Republican Party to learn more and are waiting for a comment regarding the arrest.
Also, according to election statistics, Skaggs ran for State Representative in District 36 in 2022 and 2024, losing both times to Democrat Nathan P. Small.
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SANTA FE, N.M. – Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham asked Attorney General Raúl Torrez to investigate whether any Drug Enforcement Administration agents broke state law when pills reached New Mexico streets.
In a statement, Lujan Grisham said, “make no mistake: the DEA knew people would die if these pills made it into New Mexico communities.”
The governor also shared a timeline from 2022 to 2025 that she said shows when she asked federal officials for help with New Mexico’s fentanyl crisis and violent crime.
Lujan Grisham said the first request came on June 21, 2022, when she wrote to then-Federal Bureau of Investigation Director Christopher Wray and asked for 50 additional federal agents.
She said she wrote to then-Attorney General Merrick Garland on Sept. 15, 2022, asking for more agents, resources and support for New Mexico law enforcement.
Lujan Grisham said she wrote Garland a second time on Aug. 8, 2023, with the same request.
What came next?
About a month later, Lujan Grisham said she sent Garland a third letter and said New Mexico needed more federal law enforcement to curb violent crime, drug trafficking and human trafficking.
She said her most recent request came on Sept. 4, 2025, when she wrote to former Attorney General Pam Bondi and again asked for additional agents and resources.
The governor’s statement says those requests span several years as she pressed the federal government for more help in New Mexico.
Full statement from Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham:
“I am appalled by reporting this week by the Associated Press and Albuquerque Journal that revealed federal authorities made a deliberate decision to let hundreds of thousands of fentanyl pills flood into New Mexico communities, despite knowing that fentanyl is so lethal the White House has designated it a weapon of mass destruction.
Let me say that again: the Drug Enforcement Administration watched as 74,000 fentanyl pills were delivered to a mobile home park in Albuquerque, and they did nothing. And that’s just one transaction. Shockingly, the federal government stood by while monitoring shipments, tallying exact pill counts, and watching as these deadly drugs hit the streets.
There are no words to describe how reckless and dangerous these decisions were. Make no mistake: the DEA knew people would die if these pills made it into New Mexico communities, and the agency let it happen anyway. The result: hundreds of New Mexican parents burying their kids. Hundreds of New Mexican kids growing up without stable parents. All while the federal government stood by.
If the justification for letting these pills flood our communities was that it would somehow make New Mexico safer down the road through bigger eventual busts, the results say otherwise. New Mexico now leads the nation in the increase in overdose deaths for the second straight year, despite deaths dropping nationwide.
Today, I wrote to Attorney General Raúl Torrez and asked him to investigate whether any federal agents broke state law when they allowed lethal drugs to remain on our streets, and to prosecute anyone responsible — regardless of whether they are a federal agent or not.
I have spent years working across two administrations — writing letters, traveling to Washington, meeting directly with President Joe Biden and his cabinet, pushing for accountability, asking for more federal agents to be deployed to New Mexico to help fight this crisis.
- On June 21, 2022, I wrote to FBI Director Christopher Wray, imploring the FBI to assign no less than 50 additional agents to New Mexico to stem escalating drug trafficking and violent crime.
- On September 15, 2022, I wrote to Attorney General Merrick Garland, requesting that the Department of Justice provide additional federal agents, resources and support to New Mexico law enforcement. We asked the department to match the level of investigative, analytical, and technical resources the FBI had deployed in its Buffalo, NY surge.
- On August 8, 2023, I wrote again to Attorney General Garland, renewing my request that the DOJ expeditiously assign more federal agents to New Mexico.
- On September 7, 2023, I wrote to Attorney General Garland for a third time, reiterating my request once more federal law enforcement support to curb violent crime, drug and human trafficking.
- On September 4, 2025, I wrote to Attorney General Pam Bondi, once again requesting additional agents and resources.
I have declared the surge of drugs like fentanyl to be a public health emergency. I have deployed the National Guard to both Albuquerque and Española. While my administration was doing everything we could to stem the tide of fentanyl coming into our state, the federal government deliberately allowed it to flood in.
New Mexican lives are not the federal government’s cost of doing business.
I plan to hold the federal government accountable for this disaster and will explore every possible avenue of action against the federal government to right these wrongs.”
The Canyon Venado Fire has grown to 852 acres east of Clines Corners and crews say wind farms in the area are threatened.
CLINES CORNERS, N.M. – The Canyon Venado Fire has grown to 852 acres east of Clines Corners and crews say wind farms in the area are threatened.
The fire is burning just east of Clines Corners, south of Interstate 40.
It forced the closure of eastbound Interstate 40 at Clines Corners on Tuesday night. I-40 reopened Tuesday night. I-40 is back open but smoke still affects visibility.
“We’re on the side of I-40 so drivers have to be pretty cautious. As far as our establishment itself we’re pretty isolated by the freeway itself as a nice fire break,” said Lincoln Tarantino, Clines Corner general manager.
The fire has burned around 852 acres, up from just 20 at this time Monday.
Crews say the fire is not contained and wind farms in the area are threatened.
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