A New Mexico jury on Tuesday found Meta, the parent company of Facebook, Instagram, and WhatsApp, liable for endangering children and misleading users about the safety of its platforms.
The landmark verdict marks the first time a state-led action has resulted in accountability for a big tech company when it comes to safety and children, according to New Mexico Attorney General Raúl Torrez, who oversaw the case for the state.
The jury imposed a $375 million penalty on Meta, falling short of the $2 billion in damages sought by New Mexico.
The high-profile trial took place simultaneously with a separate trial in Los Angeles probing Meta's and YouTube's effects on minors.
Read on for more about the verdict and the New Mexico case.
The trial against Meta in New Mexico centered on whether or not Meta broke New Mexico consumer protection laws and misled young users about the safety of Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp.
The jury ultimately found that Meta knowingly concealed information about child sexual exploitation on its social media platforms.
In a statement following the verdict, Torrez called it "a historic victory for every child and family who has paid the price for Meta's choice to put profits over kids' safety."
"Meta executives knew their products harmed children, disregarded warnings from their own employees, and lied to the public about what they knew," Torrez said. "Today the jury joined families, educators, and child safety experts in saying enough is enough."
ABC News legal analyst Brian Buckmire, who was not involved in the case, said Wednesday on ABC News Live, "This is a narrow victory for New Mexico based on their ... consumer protection laws."
"If there are other states that have similar laws in the books, they'll see this as a victory as well," Buckmire continued, adding, "Meta isn't just a state-by-state organization. So, even a victory here for New Mexico may be a victory for the country."
After the New Mexico jury rendered its verdict this week, Meta responded with a statement pushing back on the decision and saying the company plans to appeal.
"We respectfully disagree with the verdict and will appeal. 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," the statement read. "We will continue to defend ourselves vigorously, and we remain confident in our record of protecting teens online."
Buckmire said that an appeal by Meta has the potential to be a "long and arduous process."
"This will be an appeal based on the law or the application of the law to certain facts. We're not going to see, for example, Mark Zuckerberg take the stand again and testify," he said.
As part of the verdict, Meta was ordered pay $375 million in civil penalties, or $5,000 per violation. While that seems like a large number, for comparison, Meta's total market cap sits around $1.5 trillion as of March 2026.
In a press release Tuesday, Torrez said, "In the next phase of this legal proceeding, we will seek additional financial penalties and court-mandated changes to Meta's platforms that offer stronger protections for children."
The department said it will specifically seek injunctive relief and substantive changes from Meta, such as making "specific changes to its platforms and company operations, including enacting effective age verification, removing predators from the platform, and protecting minors from encrypted communications that shield bad actors."
Those proceedings are scheduled to begin May 4.
Buckmire told ABC News that, in his opinion, if Meta were to make a decision to potentially change its products, it may come down how much it believes it stands to lose by making -- or not making -- those product changes, "in the same way a company would look at losing a product liability case."
"They will also have to consider the 'court of public opinion' and their ongoing strides in protecting users on their platform," he added.
Buckmire noted that negotiations between Meta and New Mexico will likely continue between now and the upcoming May proceedings to see if a resolution can be reached.
As the New Mexico trial unfolded, Meta and YouTube, owned by Google, were also defending themselves in a separate trial in Los Angeles, centered around whether the companies intentionally designed their platforms to be addictive.
The LA lawsuit was brought by a 20-year-old plaintiff identified as "Kaley" and her mother, who alleged the platforms' design features, such as auto-scrolling, got Kaley hooked on the apps at a young age, ultimately leading her to develop anxiety, depression and body image issues.
The social media companies denied the allegations, arguing that other factors contribute to the mental health of young social media users and that they have put in place guardrails to protect them, including specific parental controls for accounts belonging to children and teens.
Social platforms Snapchat and TikTok were previously named in the lawsuit but reached settlements with the plaintiffs earlier this year.
The landmark case saw testimony from "Kaley," as well as Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg and Instagram head Adam Mosseri.
The jury in that case deliberated for more than a week before reaching a verdict on Wednesday, March 25, finding Meta and YouTube negligent for designing apps that harmed kids and teens and failing to warn them about the dangers. The jury awarded the plaintiffs compensatory damages in the amount of $3 million, plus an additional $3 million in punitive damages.
A Meta spokesperson told ABC News in a statement following the verdict, "We respectfully disagree with the verdict and are evaluating our legal options."
In a statement to ABC News, Google spokesperson José Castañeda said, "We disagree with the verdict and plan to appeal. This case misunderstands YouTube, which is a responsibly built streaming platform, not a social media site."
Attorneys for the plaintiffs said in a statement to ABC News, "This verdict is bigger than one case. For years, social media companies have profited from targeting children while concealing their addictive and dangerous design features. Today's verdict is a referendum -- from a jury, to an entire industry -- that accountability has arrived. We now move forward to the next phase of this trial focused on punitive damages."
ABC News' Elizabeth Schulze contributed to this report.
Editor's note: This article has been updated to include punitive damages awarded to the plaintiffs in the California trial involving Meta and YouTube.
