Meta willfully violated New Mexico law by misleading users about the safety of its products and engaging in an unconscionable trade practice, a jury found. The company will face a $375 million penalty for the violations, awarding the maximum penalty of $5,000 per violation for 37,500 violations across two counts. The jury decided against Meta on every count, though it declined to award a penalty as high as the state sought, which would have been closer to $2 billion.
It’s a landmark verdict delivered just one day after closing arguments. New Mexico argued that Meta had flouted state law by misleading consumers and facilitating child predators on its platform. The state set up decoy accounts on Facebook to lure suspected predators to profiles that appeared to belong to minors, and said they found they were flooded with requests and messages from adults. Meta vehemently denied the allegations, saying the states’ investigation was flawed and that it has been truthful about the safety of its products.
Another verdict in a case involving Meta’s product safety is expected soon in Los Angeles, where the jury has been deliberating for over a week in a case that also targets Google’s YouTube. Several more cases are waiting in the wings to go to trial. The New Mexico verdict is a historic win for a unique legal strategy pursued by Attorney General Raúl Torrez, focused on the tech platform’s own design, in an attempt to overcome the defense that online content is protected.
“New Mexico is proud to be the first state to hold Meta accountable in court for misleading parents, enabling child exploitation, and harming kids,” Torrez said in a statement. “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.”
“We respectfully disagree with the verdict and will appeal,” Meta spokesperson Francis Brennan said in a statement. “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.”