A New Mexico jury has ruled that Mark Zuckerberg’s Meta must pay $375 million in civil damages after finding the social media giant violated state law by failing to protect children from predators on its platforms.
CNBC reports that the verdict delivered on Tuesday marks a significant legal defeat for Meta, the parent company of Facebook and Instagram, following a civil trial in Santa Fe that began with opening arguments last month. The jury deliberated starting Monday before reaching their decision that Meta willfully violated New Mexico’s unfair practices act.
The case was brought by New Mexico Attorney General Raúl Torrez (D), who filed suit against Meta in 2023 after conducting an undercover investigation. The operation involved creating fake social media profile of a 13-year-old girl, which Torrez said was immediately flooded with inappropriate images and targeted solicitations from child abusers.
The civil trial centered on allegations that Meta violated state consumer protection laws and misled New Mexico residents about the safety of its platforms. During closing statements, Linda Singer, an attorney representing New Mexico, urged jurors to impose a civil penalty that could exceed $2 billion. The jury ultimately determined that Meta should pay $375 million based on the number of violations found.
In a statement to Breitbart News, a Meta spokesperson wrote: “We respectfully disagree with the verdict and will appeal. 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.”
Attorney General Torrez celebrated the verdict as a landmark achievement. “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 statement. “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.”
The legal proceedings are not yet complete. A second phase of the trial, scheduled to begin May 4, will be conducted without a jury. During this phase, a judge will determine whether Meta created a public nuisance and whether the company should be required to fund public programs designed to address the alleged harms. New Mexico’s legal team is also pushing for Meta to implement specific changes to its platforms, including effective age verification systems, removal of predators, and protection of minors from encrypted communications that could shield bad actors.
Evidence presented during the trial included internal Meta communications discussing the potential consequences of CEO Mark Zuckerberg’s 2019 decision to implement end-to-end encryption by default on Facebook Messenger. According to prosecutors, internal messages from Meta employees addressed concerns that this encryption would impact the company’s ability to report approximately 7.5 million instances of child sexual abuse material to law enforcement.
The New Mexico attorney general’s office also filed a similar child exploitation lawsuit against Snap in 2024, which is currently in the discovery stages. Torrez noted that his team successfully overcame Section 230 motions in both the Meta and Snap cases. Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act has traditionally been used by tech companies to avoid liability for user-generated content, prompting prosecutors to develop new legal strategies focusing on app design rather than content.
Breitbart News reported Tuesday that the landmark social media addiction case in California is still in deliberations after the jury told the judge it was struggling to reach a consensus.
Read more at CNBC here.
Lucas Nolan is a reporter for Breitbart News covering issues of free speech and online censorship.
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