The US state of New Mexico ordered Facebook’s parent company to pay $375 million over profiting from exposing youngsters to online abuse
© Getty Images/Matt Cardy
Meta
has been ordered to pay $375 million for knowingly harming children’s
mental health and concealing evidence of child sexual exploitation on
its social media platforms.
The New Mexico Department of Justice
issued the ruling on Tuesday after a jury found that Facebook’s parent
company had violated state law in what is the first case focused on the
role of social media in child sexual exploitation and harm to mental
health.
The landmark verdict comes after a seven-week trial and
stems from an undercover investigation conducted by the state
authorities in 2023.
Agents created fake accounts on Meta social
media platforms and identified two men who, believing them to be minors,
attempted to coerce them into sexual acts. Both suspects were later
arrested.
According to the statement, Meta employees and external
child safety experts repeatedly raised concerns about such risks, but
most of the warnings were ignored.
A former Meta employee said the
personalized algorithms that make the company’s platforms – including
Facebook, Instagram, WhatsApp, and Threads – effective at targeting
advertising could be just as useful to pedophiles.
The jury found
75,000 violations and awarded $5,000 per violation. The state’s final
claim against Meta, alleging it created a public nuisance harming
residents’ health and safety, will be heard in a bench trial in May. The
authorities will be seeking platform changes such as age verification
and predator removal.
Commenting on the ruling, a Meta spokesperson said the company would appeal.
The
case is the second major 2026 lawsuit against the tech giant over
alleged harm to minors. Another high-profile trial is ongoing in Los
Angeles, where families and schools have filed the first-ever product
liability suit against Meta, TikTok, and YouTube, claiming the platforms
were deliberately designed to make children addicted and damage their
mental health.
Worldwide, the company is encountering increasing regulatory pressure, having been labeled an “extremist organization”
in Russia in 2022 and facing several EU actions, including a €797
million ($940 million) antitrust fine, along with separate copyright,
data‑protection, and advertising cases throughout Europe.
Concerns
over child safety online are increasing legal pressure. In the US, Meta
faces lawsuits over addictive features and user safety, while countries
such as Australia, Denmark, France, Spain, Italy, Slovenia, the UK,
Indonesia, and Malaysia are restricting or planning restrictions on
social media access for children and teens.