In what the New Mexico Department of Justice calls a "landmark verdict", Meta has lost a case about endangering children and misleading consumers.
The trial mainly concerned safety on Facebook and Instagram, with testimony from employees adding damage on top of a state led undercover operation, in which fake accounts posing as minors was set up, with those accounts being sent explicit material from various men who were arrested in 2024, including some who had set up dates/appointments with, what they thought was children as young as 12, at shady motels, only to be arrested. Another part of the case starts in early May, on the subject of age verification requirements and protection of minors.
Each violation cost Meta a mere $5,000 due to state limitations on damages. The reason was that evidence showed employees at Meta were found to have warned multiple times against the dangers of the platforms, as well as child safety experts, while management mostly ignored the warnings, including a software engineer who himself had a 14-year-old daughter that received unwanted advances on Instagram, and even testified to the ad targeting system being equally useful for child predators to find potential victims. One former VP directly testified that in his opinion, he "absolutely did not believe that safety was a priority".
"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," explains Raul Torrez, New Mexico general attorney.