A court in New Mexico has ordered Meta to pay a fine of $375 million for misleading users over the safety of its platform specifically for children.
Meta, which owns Facebook, Instagram, and WhatsApp, has been found guilty of violating New Mexico’s Unfair Practices Act and endangering children and exposing them to material which is sexually explicit and brings them in contact with sexual predators.
Meta’s spokeswoman has said that they disagree with the verdict and plan to appeal it, BBC reported.
“We work hard to keep people safe on our platforms and are clear about the challenges of identifying and removing bad actors and harmful content. We remain confident in our record of protecting teens online,” she said.
The trial lasted seven weeks during which jurors were presented with internal Meta documents and even heard testimonies of former employees.
Arturo Béjar, a former engineering lead at Meta, became a whistleblower and testified to various experiments he ran on Instagram which exposed underage users to sexualised content. He said that his own daughter was propositioner for sex by a stranger on Instagram.
An internal Meta research, showed by state prosecutors, found that 16% of all Instagram users had been exposed to unwanted nudity or sexual activity in a single week.
Meta, on the other hand, argued that it has been working for years to promote safe experiences for minors on its social media apps. In 2024, Instagram even released Teen Accounts to give young users more options to control their experience.
