Meta ordered to pay $375 million in New Mexico child exploitation case

A civil jury in New Mexico found Meta $META liable Tuesday for $375 million in damages, concluding the company broke state consumer protection law by exposing children to sexual exploitation and concealing the dangers of its platforms from users.

Jurors determined Meta had broken two provisions of the state's Unfair Trade Practices Act on 37,500 separate counts, and that it had done so deliberately. The $5,000-per-violation penalty — the maximum under state law — produced the $375 million total. A juror told the Santa Fe New Mexican the figure reflected the panel's estimate of how many teenagers in New Mexico may have been affected.

The award falls well short of the roughly $2 billion officials had sought. The state based its calculation on 208,000 monthly teen users — a count it said Meta itself supplied — applying the $5,000 penalty that many times for each type of violation.

New Mexico Attorney General Raúl Torrez initiated the lawsuit in 2023 following an undercover investigation in which state agents constructed a fictitious profile impersonating a 13-year-old girl. Court filings accused Meta of allowing its apps — Facebook, Instagram, and WhatsApp — to become what prosecutors called a "breeding ground" for predators while deceiving users about available safety measures.

"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 in a statement. "Meta executives knew their products harmed children, disregarded warnings from their own employees, and lied to the public about what they knew."

Meta said it would appeal. "We respectfully disagree with the verdict and will appeal," a company spokesperson said. "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."

According to the New Mexico Department of Justice, no state had ever before taken a major technology company to trial over child safety claims on its platforms and prevailed.

The proceedings in Santa Fe spanned six weeks, with Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg submitting testimony via recorded deposition; Instagram chief Adam Mosseri took the stand in person and also provided deposition testimony.

In May, First Judicial District Chief Judge Bryan Biedscheid will lead a bench trial to decide if Meta's actions created a public nuisance. The state wants a court order that would require Meta to make specific changes, such as adding new rules for encrypted messages, stronger age checks, and better ways to remove predators from its platforms.

Observers have drawn parallels between this year's wave of social media litigation and the tobacco industry lawsuits of the 1990s, according to CNBC, with both sets of cases involving allegations that the companies misled the public about the safety and potential harms of their products. A jury in a Los Angeles Superior Court has also been deliberating in a separate personal injury case in which a plaintiff claims she developed a social media addiction as an underage user, with Meta and Google $GOOGL's YouTube named as defendants.