A jury in Santa Fe on Tuesday ordered Meta to pay $375 million in civil penalties after finding the company misled consumers about the safety of its platforms and endangered children.
New Mexico attorney general Raúl Torrez’s office called the decision a “watershed moment for every parent concerned about what could happen to their kids when they go online,” according to a press release issued right after the ruling.
The verdict, reached after a six-week trial, found Meta liable on both claims brought by the state under its Unfair Practices Act. At $5,000 per violation — the maximum allowed under the law — the penalty may seem paltry for a company valued at $1.5 trillion by public market investors. But the dollar amount isn’t as important as the fact that this is the first jury verdict of its kind against Meta over harm to young people.
“Meta executives knew their products harmed children, disregarded warnings from their own employees, and lied to the public about what they knew,” Torrez said in a statement following the verdict. “Today the jury joined families, educators, and child safety experts in saying enough is enough.”
New Mexico’s case against the company grew out of a 2023 undercover investigation in which state investigators created decoy accounts on Facebook and Instagram posing as users younger than 14. Those accounts were sent sexually explicit material and solicited for sex by several New Mexico men who were arrested in May 2024. Two were apprehended at a motel where they believed they’d be meeting a 12-year-old girl, based on conversations they had with the accounts.
The operation formed the basis of the state’s case. The evidence it produced — along with internal Meta documents and testimony from former employees — showed that company staff and outside child safety experts repeatedly raised alarms about dangers on the platforms and were largely ignored.
Some of the most damaging testimony came from people who worked inside the company.
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