A New Mexico jury ordered Meta to pay a $375 million fine on Tuesday for violating a state law by failing to disclose the risks of its social media platforms’ mental toll on minors.
The verdict is the result of more than two years of litigation led by the New Mexico Department of Justice. The state office first sued Mark Zuckerberg’s company in 2023.
The civil trial centered on New Mexico’s allegations that Meta violated state consumer protection laws and deceived parents about the safety of its platforms, such as Facebook and Instagram. After deliberations started on Monday, the jury found that the company knowingly violated the Unfair Practices Act.
The law normally permits civil penalties worth up to $5,000 per willful violation, but Meta was hit with $375 million in damages due to the large number of violations.
The fine is still lower than the amount that an attorney representing New Mexico in the case asked the jury to grant, which was at least $2 billion in damages.
New Mexico Attorney General Raul Torrez celebrated the jury’s ruling.
“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,” he said. “Meta executives knew their products harmed children, disregarded warnings from their own employees, and lied to the public about what they knew. Today the jury joined families, educators, and child safety experts in saying enough is enough.”
New Mexico is the first state to succeed in a court case against Meta over its child exploitation practices, Torrez said. The company disputed the allegations.
“We respectfully disagree with the verdict and will appeal,” a Meta 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. We will continue to defend ourselves vigorously, and we remain confident in our record of protecting teens online.”
During the jury trial’s closing arguments, Meta’s attorney insisted the company was disclosing its platforms’ risks to the public “wherever it could get its message out.” Meanwhile, the plaintiff’s attorney pointed to evidence that showed Meta failed to enforce its minimum user age of 13.
New Mexico’s top legal official is not done with litigating the case yet, however.
The second phase will begin on May 4 with a bench trial, which is conducted without a jury. In this stage, the state’s lawyers will ask the judge to impose additional damages on Meta and require the company to make changes to its platforms and company operations. Two such changes would be enacting an age-verification policy and removing child predators from Meta’s platforms.
ZUCKERBERG GRILLED ON META’S TARGETING OF TEENAGERS IN SOCIAL MEDIA ADDICTION TRIAL
“In the next phase of this legal proceeding, we will seek additional financial penalties and court-mandated changes to Meta’s platforms that offer stronger protections for children,” Torrez said.
The judge will ultimately determine whether Meta created a public nuisance and, if it did, whether it should fund public programs to help alleviate the alleged harms against children.