New Mexico
New Mexico sues Snap Inc. after investigation finds 'dark web' of child abuse
New Mexico’s attorney general has filed a lawsuit against the company behind Snapchat, alleging that site’s design and policies foster the sharing of child sexual abuse material and facilitate child sexual exploitation.
Attorney General Raúl Torrez filed the lawsuit against Snap Inc. Thursday in state court in Santa Fe. In addition to sexual abuse, the lawsuit claims the company also openly promotes child trafficking, drugs and guns.
Last December, Torrez filed a similar lawsuit against Meta, the parent company of Instagram and Facebook, saying it allows predators to trade child pornography and solicit minors for sex on its platforms. That suit is pending.
Snap’s “harmful design features create an environment where predators can easily target children through sextortion schemes and other forms of sexual abuse,” Torrez said in a statement. Sexual extortion, or sextortion, involves persuading a person to send explicit photos online and then threatening to make the images public unless the victim pays money or engages in sexual favors.
“Snap has misled users into believing that photos and videos sent on their platform will disappear, but predators can permanently capture this content and they have created a virtual yearbook of child sexual images that are traded, sold, and stored indefinitely,” Torres said.
In a statement, Snap said it shares Torrez’s and the public’s concerns about the online safety of young people.
“We understand that online threats continue to evolve and we will continue to work diligently to address these critical issues,” the company based in Santa Monica, California, said. We have invested hundreds of millions of dollars in our trust and safety teams over the past several years, and designed our service to promote online safety by moderating content and enabling direct messaging with close friends and family.”
According to the complaint, minors report having more online sexual interactions on Snapchat than any other platform, and more sex trafficking victims are recruited on Snapchat than on any other platform.
Prior to the lawsuit, New Mexico conducted a monthslong undercover investigation into child sexual abuse images on Snapchat. According to Torrez’s statement, the investigation revealed a “vast network of dark web sites dedicated to sharing stolen, non-consensual sexual images from Snap,” finding more than 10,000 records related to Snap and child sexual abuse material in the last year. This included information related to minors younger than 13 being sexually assaulted.
As part of the undercover investigation, the New Mexico department of justice set up a decoy Snapchat account for a 14-year-old named Heather, who found and exchanged messages with accounts with names like “child.rape” and “pedo_lover10.”
Snapchat, the lawsuit alleges, “was by far the largest source of images and videos among the dark web sites investigated.” Investigators also found Snapchat accounts that openly circulated and sold child abuse images directly on the platform.
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New Mexico
New Mexico (NMAA) High School Boys Basketball State Championship Brackets, Schedules – March 7, 2026
The 2026 New Mexico high school boys basketball state championships begin on Saturday, March 7, with 40 games in the first round of action.
High School on SI has brackets for every classification in the New Mexico high school basketball state brackets. The championship games begin on March 14 at the University of New Mexico – The Pit.
New Mexico (NMAA) High School Basketball State Championship Brackets, Schedule – March 7
No. 1 Volcano Vista vs. No. 16 Santa Fe – 03/07, 6:00 PM MT
No. 8 Las Cruces vs. No. 9 Albuquerque – 03/07, 4:00 PM MT
No. 5 Hobbs vs. No. 12 Organ Mountain – 03/07, 6:00 PM MT
No. 4 La Cueva vs. No. 13 Atrisco Heritage Academy – 03/07, 6:00 PM MT
No. 3 Rio Rancho vs. No. 14 Mayfield – 03/07, 4:00 PM MT
No. 6 Sandia vs. No. 11 Farmington – 03/07, 5:00 PM MT
No. 7 Centennial vs. No. 10 Carlsbad – 03/07, 5:00 PM MT
No. 2 Cleveland vs. No. 15 Alamogordo – 03/07, 5:00 PM MT
No. 1 Highland vs. No. 16 Grants – 03/07, 6:00 PM MT
No. 8 Belen vs. No. 9 Portales – 03/07, 5:00 PM MT
No. 5 Taos vs. No. 12 St. Pius X – 03/07, 6:00 PM MT
No. 4 Del Norte vs. No. 13 Valencia – 03/07, 7:00 PM MT
No. 3 Hope Christian vs. No. 14 Pojoaque Valley – 03/07, 6:00 PM MT
No. 6 Albuquerque Academy vs. No. 11 Goddard – 03/07, 5:00 PM MT
No. 7 Gallup vs. No. 10 Silver – 03/07, 5:00 PM MT
No. 2 Artesia vs. No. 15 Bloomfield – 03/07, 6:00 PM MT
No. 1 St. Michael’s vs. No. 16 Wingate – 03/07, 4:00 PM MT
No. 8 Tohatchi vs. No. 9 New Mexico Military Institute – 03/07, 3:00 PM MT
No. 5 Santa Fe Indian vs. No. 12 Sandia Prep – 03/07, 4:00 PM MT
No. 4 Navajo Prep vs. No. 13 Hot Springs – 03/07, 3:00 PM MT
No. 3 Cobre vs. No. 14 Ruidoso – 03/07, 4:00 PM MT
No. 6 Bosque vs. No. 11 Cottonwood Classical Prep – 03/07, 6:00 PM MT
No. 7 East Mountain vs. No. 10 Robertson – 03/07, 6:00 PM MT
No. 2 Tularosa vs. No. 15 West Las Vegas – 03/07, 6:00 PM MT
No. 1 Texico vs. No. 16 Clayton – 03/07, 5:00 PM MT
No. 8 Tucumcari vs. No. 9 Mora – 03/07, 5:00 PM MT
No. 5 Mesilla Valley Christian School vs. No. 12 Dulce – 03/07, 4:00 PM MT
No. 4 Santa Rosa vs. No. 13 Eunice – 03/07, 4:00 PM MT
No. 3 Mesa Vista vs. No. 14 Hozho Charter Academy – 03/07, 5:00 PM MT
No. 6 Rehoboth Christian vs. No. 11 Oak Grove Classical – 03/07, 5:00 PM MT
No. 7 Escalante vs. No. 10 Menaul – 03/07, 5:00 PM MT
No. 2 Pecos vs. No. 15 Mescalero Apache – 03/07, 6:00 PM MT
No. 1 Logan vs. No. 16 Quemado – 03/07, 4:00 PM MT
No. 8 Cliff vs. No. 9 To’hajiilee – 03/07, 5:00 PM MT
No. 5 Alamo Navajo vs. No. 12 Grady – 03/07, 5:00 PM MT
No. 4 Melrose vs. No. 13 Elida – 03/07, 5:00 PM MT
No. 3 Cimarron vs. No. 14 Pine Hill – 03/07, 5:00 PM MT
No. 6 Roy/Mosquero vs. No. 11 Mountainair – 03/07, 6:00 PM MT
No. 7 Magdalena vs. No. 10 Springer – 03/07, 3:00 PM MT
No. 2 Fort Sumner/House vs. No. 15 Gateway Christian – 03/07, 6:00 PM MT
The number of confirmed measles cases in New Mexico increased to six after the state’s Department of Health confirmed Wednesday a new case inside a local jail in Las Cruces.
A federal inmate being held in the Doña Ana County Detention Center is the latest person to have tested positive for measles. The New Mexico Department of Health said others may have been exposed to the highly contagious disease from this confirmed case if they visited the U.S. District Court building in Las Cruces on Feb. 24.
State heath officials are now urging anyone who was at the courthouse that day to check their vaccination status and report any measles symptoms from now until March 17 to a health care provider.
“The New Mexico Department of Health continues to urge people to get the measles, mumps and rubella (MMR) vaccination,” Dr. Chad Smelser, New Mexico’s deputy state epidemiologist, said in a statement. “Vaccine is the best tool to protect you from measles.”
Measles spreads through the air and people who contract the virus may experience symptoms such as runny nose, fever, cough, red eyes and a distinctive blotchy rash. These symptoms can develop between one and three weeks after exposure.
All of the six confirmed measles cases in New Mexico so far are federal detainees.
The first measles case was detected in the Hidalgo County Detention Center on Feb. 25, when a detainee, whose vaccination status was unknown, tested positive for the disease by the New Mexico Department of Health’s Scientific Laboratory.
Two days later, a second federal inmate in the same jail tested positive for the virus alongside two detainees in the Luna County Detention Center and another in the Doña Ana County Detention Center.
Both the Luna County and Doña Ana detention centers are local jails that also serve as holding facilities for federal immigration enforcement.
New Mexico health officials said they are the state’s first confirmed cases of this year, following a statewide outbreak in 2025 that sickened 100 people from mid-February to mid-September.
With two measles cases reported on each of the three local jails, Smelser said that the New Mexico Department of Health has sent vaccination teams to all three facilities.
State health officials are also “coordinating with all the facilities to assure all quarantine, isolation, testing and vaccination protocols are followed to minimize risk of measles spread.”
According to the NBC News measles tracker, more than 1,000 cases have been counted nationwide just in the first two months of this year. That’s nearly half the amount of cases confirmed in the United States in all of last year.
As 2026 already stands as one of the three worst years for measles infections in the country since 2000, another measles outbreak was confirmed this week in Texas inside the nation’s largest immigration detention facility.
On Wednesday, an Immigration and Customs Enforcement spokesperson told NBC News that a least 14 cases of measles were confirmed inside Camp East Montana, which is located on the Fort Bliss Army base in El Paso.
The people who tested positive for measles have been “cohorted and separated from the rest of the detained population to prevent further spread,” the ICE spokesperson said.
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