Three years ago, New Mexico Attorney General Raúl Torrez sued Meta, claiming the parent company of Facebook and Instagram did not do enough to protect children from exploitation on social media platforms. On Tuesday, a jury agreed with Torrez.
The jury found Meta liable for misleading its users and ordered the tech giant to pay $375 million in damages for violating consumer protection laws in the state. Torrez called the verdict “a historic victory” 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,” he said.
New Mexico authorities put together their case against the social media giant by having investigators pose as children on Instagram and Facebook. They documented instances of exploitation to show how easy it is for sexual predators to find and abuse children on the platforms.
“Our investigation into Meta’s social media platforms demonstrates that they are not safe spaces for children but rather prime locations for predators to trade child pornography and solicit minors for sex,” Torrez shared when announcing the suit.
In a post to X on Tuesday, Torrez said that “big tech can no longer place our kids in danger.”
“There’s a lot more work to do. This is just the beginning, but today was a good day,” he said.
Meta continues to deny the claims made by Torres and plans to appeal the verdict.
“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,” a spokesperson told NPR. “We will continue to defend ourselves vigorously, and we remain confident in our record of protecting teens online.”
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