A New Mexico jury delivered the largest single verdict against Meta in the company's 22-year history on March 25, 2026, ordering the social media giant to pay $375 million in damages after finding it liable for misleading users about platform safety and creating conditions that enabled the sexual exploitation of minors. The verdict — reached after four weeks of testimony in the First Judicial District Court in Santa Fe — sets a legal precedent that attorneys general in at least 11 states say they intend to use as a template for their own actions.
The case was brought by New Mexico Attorney General Raúl Torrez, who filed suit in 2024 alleging that Meta knowingly designed Instagram and Facebook with features — including recommendation algorithms, direct messaging with strangers, and minimal age verification — that facilitated contact between adults and minors for exploitative purposes. The state presented evidence from Meta's own internal research showing that executives were aware of the risks and chose not to implement available safeguards because doing so would reduce engagement metrics.
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