A New Mexico judge on Thursday granted Mark Zuckerberg’s request to be dropped from a lawsuit that alleges his company has failed to protect young users on its social media platforms from sexual exploitation.

The case is one of many filed by states, school districts and parents against Meta and its platforms over concerns about child exploitation. Beyond courtrooms around the U.S., the issue has been a topic of congressional hearings as lawmakers and parents are growing increasingly concerned about the effects of social media on young people’s lives.

In New Mexico, Attorney General Raúl Torrez sued Meta and Zuckerberg late last year...

While granting Zuckerberg’s request, [the] Judge... dismissed Meta’s motion seeking to dismiss the state’s claims, marking what Torrez described as a crucial step for the case to proceed against the social media giant.

Separately, claims were levied in late October by the attorneys general of 33 states... that Instagram and Facebook include features deliberately designed to hook children and contribute to a youth mental health crisis.

Prosecutors told the judge that New Mexico is not seeking to hold Meta accountable for its content but rather its role in pushing out that content through complex algorithms that proliferate material that can be sensational, addictive and harmful.

As part of New Mexico’s lawsuit, prosecutors say they have uncovered internal documents in which Meta employees estimate about 100,000 children every day are subjected to sexual harassment on the company’s platforms.