The jury decided that Meta misled users about the safety of its products

The jury found that Meta intentionally violated New Mexico law by misleading users about the safety of its products and engaging in unreasonable business practices. The company will face a $375 million fine for the violations, with a maximum penalty of $5,000 per violation for 37,500 violations across two counts. The jury decided against Meta on all counts, although it declined to impose the high penalty the state requested, which was closer to $2 billion.

It is a historic ruling that has just been issued One day after the conclusion of the arguments. New Mexico alleged that Meta violated state law by misleading consumers and facilitating child exploitation on its platform. The state created fake Facebook accounts to lure suspected scammers to profiles that appeared to belong to minors, and said it found they were inundated with requests and messages from adults. Meta has strongly denied the allegations, saying the states’ investigation was flawed and that it had been honest about the safety of its products.

Another ruling in a case involving Meta’s product safety is It is expected soon in Los Angelesas the jury has been deliberating for more than a week in a case that also targets Google’s YouTube. There are several other cases Waiting in the wings To go to trial. The New Mexico ruling is a landmark win for Attorney General Raul Torrez’s unique legal strategy, which focuses on proprietary technology platform design, trying to overcome the defense that online content is protected.

“New Mexico is proud to be the first state to hold Meta accountable in court for misleading parents, enabling child exploitation, and child abuse,” Torrez said in a statement. “In the next phase of this legal action, we will seek additional financial sanctions and court-mandated changes to the Meta Platforms that provide stronger protections for children.”

“We respectfully disagree with the ruling and will appeal it,” Francis Brennan, a spokesman for Meta, said in a statement. “We work hard to keep people safe on our platforms, and we’re clear about the challenges of identifying and removing bad actors or harmful content. We will continue to advocate aggressively, and remain confident in our record of protecting teens online.”