A Santa Fe jury delivered a landmark ruling Tuesday against Meta Platforms, finding the tech giant willfully violated New Mexico’s consumer protection laws by failing to safeguard children on its social media platforms from sexual predators.
The jury found that Meta violated New Mexico’s consumer protection law and ordered the company to pay $375 million in civil penalties.
In its ruling, the jury found hundreds of thousands of instances where Meta engaged in unfair, deceptive, or unconscionable trade practices, violating state law.
Jurors found there were thousands of violations, each counting separately toward the total penalty of $375 million.
The jury’s decision capped a six-week trial and marked the first jury verdict on these claims against the social media company, as it faces a broader challenge over how its platforms affect young people’s mental health.
The decision came just one day after the conclusion of the seven-week trial spurred by New Mexico Attorney General Raúl Torrez’s 2023 lawsuit alleging that Meta, which owns Facebook and Instagram, along with WhatsApp, violated New Mexico’s consumer protection laws and misled the public on the risks for teen users’ mental health and the levels of sexual exploitation.
New Mexico prosecutors argued that Meta concealed the scope of safety dangers facing children on Facebook and Instagram, and that the company failed to enforce its own minimum age requirement of 13, even as its recommendation algorithms allegedly made it easier for bad actors to target minors for harassment and sex trafficking.
State attorney Linda Singer addressed the jury during closing arguments.
“The safety issues that you’ve heard about in this case, weren’t mistakes,” Singer told jurors.
“They were a product of a corporate philosophy that chose growth and engagement over children’s safety. And young people in this state and around the country have borne the cost,” she added.
New Mexico’s attorneys urged the jury to impose a civil penalty against Meta that could top $2 billion, CNBC reported.
Meta defense attorney Kevin Huff pushed back during his closing argument, stating: “Meta has built innovative, automated tools to protect people. Meta has 40,000 people working to make its apps as safe as possible.”
Huff also described the $2 billion penalty request as “a shocking number.”
In reaching a verdict, the jury considered whether social media users were misled by specific statements about platform safety by Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg, Instagram head Adam Mosseri and Meta global head of safety Antigone Davis.
New Mexico’s investigation into Meta’s conduct included an undercover sting operation in which state officials created test accounts to probe safety on the platforms.
Those accounts were allegedly bombarded with adult sexual content and outreach from alleged child predators, including graphic images and an offer of a six-figure payment to appear in pornographic content.
Local police made at least three arrests tied to the operation.
Jurors also heard testimony from former Meta safety researcher and whistleblower Arturo Béjar, who recounted how his then-14-year-old daughter received disturbing messages, including “unsolicited penis pictures,” shortly after opening her first Instagram account.
Béjar further alleged that Meta’s recommendation algorithm actively helped predators identify potential child victims. “The product is very good at connecting people with interests, and if your interest is little girls, it will be really good at connecting you with little girls,” Béjar testified.
Resist the Mainstream previously reported that court documents unsealed during the trial revealed an internal Meta email in which a company researcher warned executives that there could be as many as 500,000 cases of online sexual exploitation per day across Facebook and Instagram.
