A New Mexico jury on Tuesday ordered Meta to pay $375 million in civil penalties following a landmark trial regarding the platform's failure to protect children from sexual predators. The verdict concludes a six-week case involving testimony from former executives and online safety experts.
Prosecutors argued that Meta violated state law by misleading users about the safety of Facebook and Instagram. They alleged the tech giant failed to enforce minimum age requirements while algorithms facilitated the targeting of minors for harassment and exploitation.
State attorney Linda Singer told the jury that safety issues were the result of a corporate philosophy that prioritized growth over child protection. She stated that young people have borne the cost of these internal decisions.
Meta executives and attorneys strongly disputed these claims throughout the trial. The company argued it has dedicated significant resources to safety, employing approximately 40,000 people to monitor its applications and developing automated tools to detect harmful content.
Meta attorney Kevin Huff characterized the state’s original $2 billion request as a shocking number. Following the verdict, a Meta spokesperson confirmed the company respectfully disagrees with the decision and intends to appeal the jury's findings.
The legal proceedings included evidence from a sting operation where state-managed test accounts were reportedly targeted with explicit content and solicitations. Former Meta safety researcher Arturo Béjar also testified about his own daughter’s experiences on Instagram.
Unsealed court documents revealed internal warnings within Meta regarding the scale of the issue. One researcher's email estimated there could be as many as 500,000 daily instances of online sexual exploitation across the company's various platforms.
This ruling comes as President Trump and various state governments increase scrutiny of Big Tech business practices. Meta continues to face separate legal challenges in California regarding allegations of fueling social media addiction among minors.
The New Mexico case, initiated by Attorney General Raúl Torrez, represents one of several high-profile attempts to hold social media companies legally responsible for content-related harms. The final $375 million penalty is significantly lower than the $2 billion initially sought by the state.