{"id":20,"date":"2026-05-24T13:12:12","date_gmt":"2026-05-24T13:12:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/modernhomejournals.com\/?p=20"},"modified":"2026-05-24T13:12:12","modified_gmt":"2026-05-24T13:12:12","slug":"did-meta-just-take-a-swing-at-rfk-jr","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/modernhomejournals.com\/?p=20","title":{"rendered":"Did Meta Just Take a Swing at RFK Jr.?"},"content":{"rendered":"
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There\u2019ve been plenty of signs that Mark Zuckerberg\u2019s Meta is trying to play nice with President Donald Trump and his second administration. In New Mexico this week, the company\u2019s legal team showed that may not extend to Trump\u2019s health secretary, Robert F. Kennedy Jr.<\/p>\n

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A lawyer for the tech giant questioned the veracity of information coming from the Department of Health and Human Services, specifically because Kennedy leads the agency.<\/p>\n

Kevin Huff, an attorney representing Meta, argued in court that a recent report on the dangers of screen time from the office of the surgeon general lacked \u201ctrustworthiness\u201d due to Kennedy\u2019s involvement and shouldn\u2019t be allowed as evidence in ongoing litigation against the company.<\/p>\n

\u201cAs Your Honor, I\u2019m sure, is aware, Secretary Kennedy has unusual views about causation and vaccines. He recently said that Tylenol causes autism,\u201d Huff told Judge Bryan Biedscheid of New Mexico\u2019s 1st Judicial District Court Thursday. \u201cWe urge the court to consider Secretary Kennedy and his prior unsupported claims about causation in determining the trustworthiness of this document.\u201d<\/p>\n

The lawsuit, which the state of New Mexico brought against Meta in 2023, is focused on the company\u2019s child protection practices. Huff argued that a that was issued earlier this week shouldn\u2019t be considered because of Kennedy\u2019s past history of \u201cadvancing claims that are contrary to science.\u201d<\/p>\n

Meta and other tech companies have not otherwise publicly commented on the screen time report, which was released as an advisory from the U.S. surgeon general\u2019s office despite the role currently going unfilled<\/u><\/span>.<\/p>\n

The administration\u2019s findings open with a two-page letter from Kennedy in which he writes that \u201cfeatures deliberately built into many tech platforms to promote \u2018engagement\u2019\u201d can negatively impact children\u2019s health and serve as \u201ca path to addiction-like behavior.\u201d<\/p>\n

In response to questions from NOTUS about whether Huff\u2019s comments represented the views of the company, a Meta spokesperson, Aaron Simpson, said via email, \u201cThis reflects a thorough discussion about the report\u2019s admissibility, given it was made public just days before the trial was set to end.\u201d<\/p>\n

Meta and other social media companies have made clear attempts to improve their relationship with Trump and his supporters; Zuckerberg recently agreed to serve<\/u><\/span> on Trump\u2019s new technology panel, and Meta has joined Melania Trump\u2019s AI coalition<\/u><\/span>. The case in New Mexico shows areas of possible tension, particularly with Kennedy\u2019s Make America Healthy Again movement.<\/p>\n

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Kennedy has crusaded against Meta and its social media platforms for years, claiming that it censored him<\/u><\/span> and the anti-vaccine organization he formerly chaired, Children\u2019s Health Defense. Last year, the Supreme Court rejected without comment<\/u><\/span> a claim Children\u2019s Health Defense made against Meta.<\/p>\n

Under Kennedy\u2019s leadership, the White House MAHA Report the health secretary\u2019s concerns about screen time, claiming that \u201cAmerican children have transitioned from an active, play-based childhood to a sedentary, technology-driven lifestyle, contributing to declines in physical and mental health.\u201d<\/p>\n

Meta is facing backlash at the state level as well. New Mexico Attorney General Ra\u00fal Torrez has argued that Meta endangered children by not doing enough to combat child sexual exploitation on its platforms and by purposefully making sites like Facebook and Instagram addictive to use.<\/p>\n

In the first phase of the lawsuit, a jury found Meta liable<\/u><\/span> for misleading users about the safety of its platforms and endangering children under New Mexico\u2019s Unfair Practices Act and ordered the company to pay a $375 million fine. The lawsuit is now in its second phase, in which the state is asking the court to order Meta to to its platforms and company operations.<\/p>\n

The state\u2019s lawyers asked the judge to admit the screen time report, which recommends changes to tech company practices in line with those called for by the state, into evidence. Judge Biedscheid ultimately sided with the state and allowed the report to be included.<\/p>\n

In his argument before the judge, Meta\u2019s lawyer also questioned the timing of the report\u2019s release, and asked that the judge require New Mexico to produce any communications that it had with the surgeon general\u2019s office, the HHS office, or anyone else involved in the creation of this document, \u201cso that we can see if there is a litigation purpose behind this document that might go to its trustworthiness.\u201d<\/p>\n

A New Mexico assistant attorney general, Steven Perfrement, told the judge that the state did not have any involvement in the surgeon general\u2019s advisory or the timing of the report\u2019s release, just days before the trial was set to end.<\/p>\n

\u201cSeeing the report yesterday was a surprise to me as anybody else,\u201d said Perfrement. \u201cI had not heard about it, didn\u2019t know anything about it until it was issued and presented to me.\u201d<\/p>\n

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HHS did not immediately respond to a request for comment.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Meta\u2019s lawyer said the surgeon general\u2019s screen time advisory lacked \u201ctrustworthiness\u201d because of RFK Jr.\u2019s involvement.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":19,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-20","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-technology"],"yoast_head":"\nDid Meta Just Take a Swing at RFK Jr.? - Modern Home Journals<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/modernhomejournals.com\/?p=20\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Did Meta Just Take a Swing at RFK Jr.? - Modern Home Journals\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Meta\u2019s lawyer said the surgeon general\u2019s screen time advisory lacked \u201ctrustworthiness\u201d because of RFK Jr.\u2019s involvement.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/modernhomejournals.com\/?p=20\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Modern Home Journals\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2026-05-24T13:12:12+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"admin\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"admin\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"4 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/modernhomejournals.com\\\/?p=20#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/modernhomejournals.com\\\/?p=20\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"admin\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/modernhomejournals.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/533de239efc09a2ab59959cc1bff86d0\"},\"headline\":\"Did Meta Just Take a Swing at RFK Jr.?\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-05-24T13:12:12+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/modernhomejournals.com\\\/?p=20\"},\"wordCount\":853,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/modernhomejournals.com\\\/?p=20#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/modernhomejournals.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/05\\\/4fc1d6a938c162e583a252e7e2fcdb2a-scaled.jpg\",\"articleSection\":[\"Technology\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/modernhomejournals.com\\\/?p=20#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/modernhomejournals.com\\\/?p=20\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/modernhomejournals.com\\\/?p=20\",\"name\":\"Did Meta Just Take a Swing at RFK Jr.? - Modern Home Journals\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/modernhomejournals.com\\\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/modernhomejournals.com\\\/?p=20#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/modernhomejournals.com\\\/?p=20#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/modernhomejournals.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/05\\\/4fc1d6a938c162e583a252e7e2fcdb2a-scaled.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-05-24T13:12:12+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/modernhomejournals.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/533de239efc09a2ab59959cc1bff86d0\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/modernhomejournals.com\\\/?p=20#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/modernhomejournals.com\\\/?p=20\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/modernhomejournals.com\\\/?p=20#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/modernhomejournals.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/05\\\/4fc1d6a938c162e583a252e7e2fcdb2a-scaled.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/modernhomejournals.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/05\\\/4fc1d6a938c162e583a252e7e2fcdb2a-scaled.jpg\",\"width\":2560,\"height\":1707,\"caption\":\"Health Secretary Robert F. 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