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Meta Platforms said it could remove Instagram and Facebook services from New Mexico over the product changes being sought by prosecutors
- The New Mexico Prosecutor is seeking modifications which include banning infinite scroll, autoplay and push notifications during school and sleep hours, in addition to capping access for New Mexico children on Meta platforms to 90 hours per month.
- Meta claims the demands are “so broad and burdensome, that if implemented it might force Meta to withdraw its apps entirely” from New Mexico.
- New Mexico is also seeking financial penalties after Meta was found to have violated its consumer protection laws and ordered to pay $375 m in damages.
- New Mexico Attorney General Raúl Torrez termed Meta’s warning as a “PR stunt”.
Assessment
Meta’s threat may signal that the financial impact of implementing those product changes could be high. However, the company may also be trying to avoid setting a precedent for other states, such as California. Given that Meta Platforms is an important part of the economy, threatening to pull its services from one state could increase political and public pressure to scale back or soften those proposed changes. That said, we should aim to understand the situation better.