A New Mexico jury has ordered Meta to pay $375 million after finding the company deceived the public about child safety on its platforms and acted unconscionably toward minors.
The verdict follows about six weeks of trial in Santa Fe and marks a major win for New Mexico Attorney General RaĂşl Torrez, who sued Meta in 2023 over allegations that Facebook and Instagram exposed children to sexual exploitation, harmful content, and contact from predators.
Meta said it will appeal.
The verdict is in, but the case is not over
According to Reuters, jurors found that Meta violated New Mexico’s Unfair Practices Act and awarded the statutory maximum of $5,000 per violation, producing the $375 million figure. The jury found the company engaged in deceptive trade practices and unconscionable conduct toward minors. Meta said it “respectfully disagrees” with the verdict and plans to challenge it on appeal.
The case grew out of a 2023 lawsuit filed by the state, which alleged that Meta’s platforms exposed children to sexual abuse, online solicitation, and trafficking risks. In its original complaint announcement, the New Mexico Department of Justice said investigators created decoy accounts for children 14 and younger and found that Meta’s platforms directed explicit material to underage users and enabled adults to solicit them.
The state’s theory focused not just on harmful user content, but on what Meta said publicly about safety and how its platforms were designed. That helped New Mexico get the case in front of a jury on consumer-protection claims rather than relying only on arguments about third-party posts.
The bigger fight is still ahead
The financial penalty is significant, but it is not the end of the case. Reuters reported that the matter now moves toward a May 4 bench trial on public nuisance claims, where Judge Bryan Biedscheid will consider remedies that could go beyond money.
New Mexico is expected to seek remedies tied to the harms it says Meta’s platforms caused, and that raises the possibility of court-ordered changes that would carry more weight than a civil penalty alone.
The verdict also falls within a broader climate of scrutiny around platform risk, disclosure, and accountability. Similar pressure is showing up elsewhere, from recent major data breaches exposing anonymous student data and crime tips to government decisions to ban foreign-made routers due to unacceptable security risks.
Meta’s appeal will shape how far this verdict reaches. For now, the jury decision gives New Mexico a courtroom win. The May remedies phase will show whether that win produces changes beyond the fine.
Also read: Meta’s $27 billion AI infrastructure deal with Nebius adds another layer to the company’s expanding bets on compute and platform scale.
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