New Mexico jury orders Meta to pay $375 million in child safety case
A New Mexico jury has found Meta liable for misleading consumers about the safety of its platforms and endangering children, ordering the company to pay $375 million in civil penalties.
The verdict came Tuesday after six weeks of testimony and arguments in state court. According to the New Mexico Department of Justice, jurors found Meta liable on both claims brought under the state’s Unfair Practices Act and imposed the maximum penalty allowed by law of $5,000 per violation.
Meta is the parent company of Facebook and Instagram, two of the largest social media platforms. New Mexico Attorney General Raúl Torrez said the case focused on whether the company misled parents and the public about the risks children face on its apps.
State officials said the $375 million verdict followed more than two years of litigation and grew out of a 2023 investigation into whether Meta’s platforms exposed children to sexual abuse, online solicitation and other harms.
Evidence at trial included internal Meta documents and testimony from former Meta employees, law enforcement officials and New Mexico educators. The state said that evidence showed Meta had been repeatedly warned by employees and outside child safety experts about dangers on its platforms.
The state argued that Meta’s design features enabled predators to engage in child sexual exploitation and that the company intentionally designed its platforms to keep young users engaged while exposing some of them to harmful content, including material related to eating disorders and self-harm.
KRQE reported that lawyers for the state told jurors in closing arguments Monday that internal documents showed Meta targeted children and teenagers to keep them on its apps longer and make more money.
The state also argued that Meta had not done enough to keep underage users off its platforms or protect them from predators and exploitation.
Meta pushed back on those claims during the trial, according to KRQE. The company argued that it tells the truth about its products, has disclosed potential harms tied to its apps, and that the statements cited by the state were taken out of context.
Meta also said it does not design its platforms to harm teenagers and that it actively works to remove harmful content and bad actors.
“We respectfully disagree with the verdict and will appeal. We work hard to keep people safe on our platforms and are clear about the challenges of identifying and removing bad actors or harmful content,” Meta said in a statement after the verdict. “We will continue to defend ourselves vigorously, and we remain confident in our record of protecting teens online.”
Torrez called the verdict a historic victory and said the state will seek more than financial penalties in the next phase of the case.
“The jury’s verdict is a historic victory for every child and family who has paid the price for Meta’s choice to put profits over kids’ safety,” Torrez said. “Meta executives knew their products harmed children, disregarded warnings from their own employees, and lied to the public about what they knew. Today the jury joined families, educators, and child safety experts in saying enough is enough.”
A bench trial on the state’s remaining public nuisance claim is scheduled to begin on May 4. The New Mexico Department of Justice said it will seek additional damages and court-ordered changes to Meta’s platforms and operations, including stronger age verification, removal of predators and added protections for minors from encrypted communications used by bad actors.
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Ella Rae Greene, Editor In Chief
