New Mexico AG Torrez Announces AI Regulatory Inquiry After Meta Settlement
A state attorney general who secured a major social media privacy settlement is now extending enforcement attention to artificial intelligence companies, a pattern that could signal broader...
New Mexico Attorney General Raul Torrez has announced a new inquiry into artificial intelligence companies, according to a report published October 25, 2026 by the Daily Caller. The move follows Torrez's office having been involved in enforcement action against Meta, which resulted in a financial settlement described by the Daily Caller as historic, though the specific dollar amount of that settlement is not fully detailed in the available source material. The precise figure would be found in the official court filing or consent decree from that case.
Torrez, a Democrat, was elected New Mexico Attorney General in 2022. His office operates under state consumer protection and privacy statutes, which grant him civil enforcement authority over companies doing business in New Mexico. State attorneys general have used similar authority in past enforcement actions against technology companies, most notably the 2012 multistate Google Street View settlement and the 2019 Facebook privacy settlement coordinated across multiple states.
The Daily Caller report identifies artificial intelligence as the next area of focus for Torrez's office, though it does not specify which AI companies or products are under review, what legal theory would ground any potential enforcement action, or whether any formal investigative subpoenas have been issued. Those details would be contained in civil investigative demands or court filings, none of which are publicly available as of the date of this report.
State attorneys general have increasingly moved into technology regulation in the absence of comprehensive federal legislation governing either social media or artificial intelligence. As of October 2026, Congress has not enacted a federal AI regulatory framework, leaving states as the primary source of new legal obligations for AI developers and deployers. At least 15 states have enacted some form of AI-related legislation as of mid-2026, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures.
New Mexico does not currently have a standalone AI statute on the books, meaning any enforcement action by Torrez would likely proceed under existing consumer protection law, specifically the New Mexico Unfair Practices Act, or under state data privacy provisions. The legal theory and its viability would depend on which AI practices are targeted and how courts interpret existing statutory language in that context.
The Meta action referenced in the Daily Caller report appears to relate to privacy or data practices. Meta has faced multiple state-level enforcement actions in recent years. In 2022, Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton, a Republican, filed suit against Meta over facial recognition data collection under the Texas Capture or Use of Biometric Identifier Act. In 2023, Meta reached a $725 million class action settlement over Cambridge Analytica-related data sharing, as recorded in court filings in the Northern District of California. Which specific action involved Torrez's office and what the final settlement amount was are not confirmed by the available source material.
Governor Michelle Lujan Grisham, also a Democrat, leads New Mexico's executive branch. The attorney general operates as an independently elected constitutional officer and does not require gubernatorial approval to initiate enforcement actions. Torrez's budget and staffing levels, which would affect the scale of any AI inquiry, are set by the New Mexico Legislature and documented in the state's annual appropriations bills.
The political context for this announcement is the 2026 midterm election cycle. Attorneys general in multiple states have used technology enforcement actions to raise their public profiles ahead of potential bids for higher office. Whether Torrez has any declared or exploratory plans beyond his current term is not established by the available source material.
No AI company has been named as a formal target, no charges have been filed, and no settlement discussions have been publicly disclosed. The document that would answer what companies are under review and on what legal basis is a civil investigative demand or subpoena, if one has been issued, which would become public only if litigation follows or if it is voluntarily disclosed. The Congressional Times will update this report when those records become available.