New Mexico Jury Orders Meta to Pay $375 Million Over Child Safety Failures

A New Mexico jury ordered Meta Platforms to pay 375 (million USD) — damages imposed on Meta for child safety violations in damages on Tuesday, March 24, 2026, marking the first jury verdict in a series of child safety trials targeting social media companies across the United States. The jury, sitting in Santa Fe, found that Meta violated the state's Unfair Practices Act by concealing what it knew about the dangers of child sexual exploitation on its platforms and by making false or misleading statements about platform safety. Jurors found thousands of individual violations, each counted separately toward the total penalty. The verdict came after a nearly seven-week trial and followed a lawsuit filed in 2023 by New Mexico Attorney General Raúl Torrez, who accused Meta of turning Facebook and Instagram into a breeding ground for child predators. Meta announced it disagrees with the verdict and will appeal.

Undercover operation and whistleblower testimony drove the case The prosecution built its case in part on an undercover operation in which state investigators created fake accounts and posed as children on Facebook and Instagram, documenting the sexual solicitations they received and recording Meta's response to those contacts. According to prosecutors, the fake accounts were quickly exposed to sexual content and contacted by adults, and the operation resulted in three arrests of individuals suspected of sexual crimes against children. The trial included testimony from approximately 40 (witnesses) — witnesses called during the seven-week New Mexico trial witnesses, among them former Meta employees who appeared as whistleblowers, psychiatric experts, state investigators, and senior company managers. Former Meta vice president Brian Boland delivered particularly striking testimony, stating that when he left the company in 2020 he absolutely did not believe that safety was a priority for chief executive Mark Zuckerberg. The jury also found that Meta engaged in "unconscionable" trade practices that unfairly exploited the vulnerability and inexperience of children, and that the company had internal information about the risks of child sexual exploitation but did not adopt sufficient measures or inform users transparently. The prosecution further argued that Meta prioritized user growth and engagement over the creation of effective safeguards.

„The jury's verdict is a historic victory for every child and every family that paid the price for Meta's decision to put profits above children's safety.” — Raúl Torrez via AP News

$375 million is a fraction of Meta's $201 billion annual revenue Although the penalty represents a significant legal defeat, the awarded sum is a small fraction of Meta's financial scale. According to AP News, Meta recorded 201 (billion USD) — Meta's total revenue in 2025 in revenue in 2025, making the $375 million penalty a minor financial exposure in isolation. New Mexico authorities had originally sought more than $2 billion in damages. A later stage of the trial could require Meta to make changes to its platforms and pay additional penalties, according to reporting by Adevarul. Torrez has stated he wants Meta to implement more effective age verification and do more to remove bad actors from its platforms. Meta, for its part, said it works hard to keep people safe on its platforms and remains confident in its track record of protecting teenagers online.

„We are working hard to ensure people's safety on our platforms and we are aware of the challenges related to identifying and removing bad actors or harmful content. We will continue to defend ourselves vigorously and remain confident in our track record of protecting teenagers online.” — Meta spokesperson via adevarul.ro

Social media companies have faced mounting legal and regulatory pressure over child safety for several years. The lawsuits have come from school districts, local and state governments, the federal government, and thousands of families, all seeking to hold platforms responsible for alleged harms including depression, eating disorders, and exposure to sexual predators. The outcomes of these cases could challenge the companies' protections under the Section 230 of the 1996 Communications Decency Act, which has historically shielded tech companies from liability for user-generated content. The cases could also force companies to alter platform design choices that critics argue are deliberately engineered to maximize engagement among young users.

Los Angeles trial against Meta and YouTube still awaiting verdict The New Mexico verdict arrives as a separate trial in Los Angeles nears its conclusion, in which Meta and YouTube, a subsidiary of Google, face accusations of deliberately designing their services to addict children and cause harm to minors' mental health. According to multiple reports, jurors in that case had already been deliberating since mid-March 2026. The Los Angeles case centers on a 20-year-old woman who alleges that Instagram and YouTube made her addicted as a minor. Beyond these two trials, a broader wave of lawsuits from school districts, state attorneys general, and families is working its way through courts across the United States. Legal analysts and observers have noted that the New Mexico ruling could carry precedent-setting significance for hundreds of similar cases. The verdicts collectively could force social media companies to change how they operate, potentially affecting their user bases and advertising revenue. The New Mexico case represents the first time Meta has been held accountable in a jury trial specifically for issues related to the safety of children and teenagers on its platforms.

Key events in the New Mexico v. Meta case: — ; — ; —