A New Mexico jury on Tuesday found Meta Platforms liable in a child safety lawsuit, concluding the company knowingly harmed children’s mental health and concealed its knowledge of child sexual exploitation on its social media services.
Meta — the parent company of Facebook, WhatsApp, Instagram and Threads — faced the nearly seven-week trial brought by the New Mexico attorney general. After less than a day of deliberations, jurors concluded Meta violated the state’s consumer protection law and engaged in “unconscionable” trade practices that exploited children’s vulnerability and inexperience. The jury assessed thousands of violations, resulting in $375 million (about €323 million) in civil penalties.
This is the first time a jury has ruled against Meta on child exploitation claims. Separately, a California federal jury has been deliberating for more than a week in a related case over whether Meta and YouTube are liable for harms tied to children’s social media use.
Jurors agreed with the state that Meta made false or misleading statements about child safety on its platforms and that its conduct unfairly took advantage of young users. New Mexico Attorney General Raúl Torrez called the verdict “a historic victory for every child and family who has paid the price for Meta’s choice to put profits over kids’ safety,” and said the damages should send a clear message to big tech executives.
Meta said it disagrees with the verdict and will appeal. A company spokesperson stated Meta works hard to keep people safe, acknowledged challenges in identifying and removing bad actors or harmful content, and said the company will continue to defend itself vigorously while remaining confident in its record on protecting teens online.
The $375 million penalty is considerably smaller than the $2.2 billion prosecutors sought. Juror Linda Payton said the jury compromised on the estimated number of teenagers affected while applying the maximum $5,000 penalty per violation. Meta’s market value is roughly $1.5 trillion; its stock rose in the hours after the verdict.
A second phase of the case will begin in May, when a judge — not a jury — will consider whether Meta should be ordered to fund public programs to address harms and whether additional changes or penalties should be imposed. Torrez said his office will ask the court to force changes and seek extra financial penalties in that phase.
Meta faces thousands of other lawsuits alleging it and other social media companies intentionally designed products to be addictive to young people, contributing to a youth mental health crisis. Some of those suits seek damages in the tens of billions, according to Meta’s regulatory filings. Meanwhile, several countries have adopted or are considering restrictions on children’s access to social media.
Edited by: Rana Taha