A jury in Santa Fe has mandated that Meta pay $375 million in civil penalties after determining that the tech giant misled the public about the safety of its platforms, particularly concerning risks to children. New Mexico Attorney General Raúl Torrez heralded the ruling as a significant moment for parents worried about their children’s online safety.
The verdict comes after a comprehensive six-week trial, where the jury found Meta culpable under the state’s Unfair Practices Act. Although the financial penalty might appear minimal given Meta’s valuation of $1.5 trillion, it marks a groundbreaking moment as the first jury decision against the company regarding its impact on young users.
Torrez commented on the verdict, stating that Meta’s executives were aware of the dangers their products posed to children and ignored internal and external warnings, only to mislead the public. The case was rooted in a 2023 undercover investigation where state officials created fake accounts posing as children under 14 on Facebook and Instagram, leading to several arrests for solicitation of minors.
Evidence included internal documents and testimonies from former Meta employees, revealing that alarms about the dangers of the platforms raised by child safety experts and staff were largely ignored. Arturo Béjar, a former Meta engineer, testified that he had warned the company about the risks to children after his own daughter faced unwanted sexual advances on Instagram, emphasising that Meta’s algorithms could just as easily connect predators to vulnerable users.
Brian Boland, another ex-Meta executive, asserted that safety was not a priority for CEO Mark Zuckerberg or former COO Sheryl Sandberg during his tenure. Zuckerberg’s deposition during the trial further underscored these concerns, with him labelling the research on platform addiction as “inconclusive,” despite evidence suggesting the contrary. He noted his personal approach to evaluating the safety of products for his own children.
Meta has announced plans to appeal the verdict, maintaining that it takes user safety seriously. This legal issue is one among many for the company; it is also involved in a significant trial in Los Angeles concerning claims that its platforms have harmful addictive effects on young users.
In addition, New Mexico has launched a second stage in its case set for May 2024, focusing on public nuisance claims which could lead to further penalties and enforced changes to Meta’s platform usage policies, including new age verification steps and enhanced protections for minors. Instead of pinpointing specific consumer laws, the state argues that Meta’s platforms have collectively harmed the health and safety of New Mexico residents.
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