A jury has ordered tech giant Meta to pay $375 million in civil penalties following a historic New Mexico child safety lawsuit. The sweeping verdict, delivered on Tuesday, found that the parent company of Facebook and Instagram violated state consumer protection laws. The jury determined Meta misled the public about the safety of its platforms for children and failed to protect underage users from online predators.
This monumental decision followed a grueling, seven-week trial in the State District Court located in Santa Fe. State Attorney General Raúl Torrez originally brought the New Mexico child safety lawsuit against the social media empire. He accused Meta executives of prioritizing corporate profits over the well-being and safety of young people.
Breaching the Unfair Practices Act
The jury deliberated for less than a single day before reaching its conclusion. They determined that Meta breached the New Mexico Unfair Practices Act. According to the state’s claims, the company routinely deceived parents and users by presenting its social media environments as secure. This happened despite the company possessing extensive internal knowledge to the contrary.
During the lengthy trial proceedings, jurors were presented with a massive volume of evidence. This included confidential internal communications, research reports, and documents from within the company. Prosecutors strategically utilized this evidence to demonstrate that leadership at Meta was fully aware of the immense dangers their engagement-driven algorithms and platform features posed to minors.
Damning Testimony from Former Employees
The prosecution’s case was heavily bolstered by sworn testimonies from former employees who witnessed the company’s internal operations firsthand. These insiders provided a rare glimpse into the corporate culture at Meta. One of the most impactful witnesses to take the stand was Arturo Bejar, a former engineering director who left the tech company in 2021.
Bejar provided the court with alarming details regarding internal experiments he personally conducted while working on the Instagram platform. His internal findings indicated that underage users were frequently exposed to highly sexualized content and dangerous interactions with adults. Making the issue deeply personal, Bejar also recounted a chilling incident in which his own young daughter was approached by a stranger for sexual purposes while using Instagram.
State prosecutors argued that despite these concerning internal findings and repeated, urgent warnings from staff members like Bejar, Meta executives simply chose to look the other way. They asserted that the company intentionally suppressed this critical safety information to maintain high user engagement rates and protect their lucrative advertising revenue.
A Resounding Victory for Child Safety
Following the reading of the verdict, Attorney General Torrez praised the jury’s decision as a massive step forward in holding powerful technology companies legally accountable. He emphasized the severe emotional and psychological toll that unchecked social media platforms have taken on families across New Mexico and the entire country.
“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 public statement released shortly after the trial concluded. He further stated that executives knew exactly how their products caused harm, disregarded direct warnings from their own engineering teams, and actively lied to the public about their internal data.
Torrez concluded his passionate remarks by noting that the jury had firmly aligned itself with families, educators, and child safety advocates. He declared that the ruling sends a clear, undeniable message to Silicon Valley that enough is enough when it comes to online child exploitation and deceptive corporate practices.
Meta’s Defense and Future Legal Battles
Throughout the trial and in the aftermath of the verdict, Meta has staunchly defended its business practices and pushed back aggressively against the jury’s findings. The company’s legal defense team maintained that they have invested heavily over the years in creating robust safety tools, parental controls, and stringent policies designed to protect younger users from harm.
In direct response to the staggering $375 million financial penalty, a spokesperson for Meta stated that the company strongly disagrees with the outcome of the New Mexico case. They reiterated their ongoing commitment to supporting youth and outright rejected the allegations that they intentionally misled the public or purposefully enabled child sexual exploitation on their networks.
This ruling represents one of the first major judicial losses for Meta in an ongoing, nationwide wave of child safety litigation. As the legal landscape continues to shift, the tech giant currently faces a barrage of similar lawsuits from numerous other states and school districts across the country. These pending legal battles will continue to closely examine the negative impact of social media platforms on the mental health, privacy, and physical safety of vulnerable children.
