Meta has been ordered to pay $375 million in civil penalties after a New Mexico jury found that the company misled users about the safety of its platforms and violated the state’s consumer-protection law in a case centered on child safety, online exploitation, and the treatment of minors on Facebook, Instagram, and WhatsApp. The verdict, delivered after a trial that lasted nearly seven weeks, is being described as a landmark decision because it is the first jury ruling of its kind against Meta on these claims.
The case was brought by New Mexico Attorney General Raúl Torrez, whose office argued that Meta knowingly exposed children to harmful material, failed to put in place adequate safeguards, and misrepresented how safe its platforms were for young users. Jurors concluded that Meta engaged in deceptive and unconscionable practices, including allowing child predators to access underage users and failing to sufficiently protect minors from sexually explicit content and exploitation.
According to the reporting, the $375 million figure was calculated through thousands of violations under New Mexico law, with penalties assessed at $5,000 per violation. One account said the jury found 75,000 violations, while another said the state had argued for an even larger amount and that the final sum was far below what prosecutors initially sought.
A major part of the case rested on undercover investigations carried out by the state, including the use of decoy child accounts that, according to prosecutors, were quickly exposed to explicit content and predatory contact. The state also relied on internal company material, testimony from former executives, educators, whistleblowers, and child-safety experts to argue that Meta was aware of the risks but failed to act effectively.
The verdict went beyond the question of isolated harmful posts and instead focused on how the platforms themselves were designed and operated. That legal strategy was significant because it targeted Meta’s conduct and representations about safety, rather than simply trying to hold the company liable for user-generated content. Reports said this helped prosecutors navigate around the legal defenses that technology companies often invoke in such cases.
The trial also highlighted criticism of Meta’s moderation systems and safety tools. Prosecutors argued that the company failed to report child sexual abuse material adequately, that some of its artificial-intelligence systems generated ineffective or unusable reports, and that weaknesses in its systems allowed harmful behavior to persist. Other reporting said encryption and platform-design choices were also presented during the case as obstacles to law enforcement efforts and child-protection work.
Meta rejected the allegations and said it plans to appeal. In statements cited across coverage, the company said it has invested heavily in user safety, employs large teams working on moderation and protection, and strongly disagrees with the verdict.
The decision is also seen as important because it comes amid a much wider legal reckoning for social-media companies in the United States. Reports noted that Meta is already facing numerous other lawsuits tied to youth mental health, online safety, and alleged addictive platform design, while similar legal pressure is building against other major technology firms as well.
The case is not fully over. Additional proceedings are expected later, and further penalties or platform-related remedies may still be considered, including possible requirements tied to stronger age verification, removal of harmful users, or broader changes to platform operations.
Taken together, the ruling marks one of the most serious legal setbacks Meta has faced in the area of child safety. It transforms long-running criticism of the company’s platforms into a concrete jury verdict with a major financial penalty, and it may become a reference point for future cases over how social-media companies protect minors and represent the risks of their products to the public.
