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New Mexico Jury Hits Meta with $375 Million Child-Safety Verdict

5/1/2026

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Summary

Meta Fined

A New Mexico jury awarded $375 million after finding Meta liable for endangering children under the Unfair Practices Act.
Attorney General Raúl Torrez (D) criticized Meta and said the company can make the changes it has implemented.
Meta claimed the 99 % CSAM detection, 99 % age-verification and no-infinite-scroll demands are impossible and would not improve teen safety.
A bench trial on protections for users under 18 will start on May 4, 2026.

Summary

Meta Threatens Pullout

Meta warned it may pull Facebook and Instagram from New Mexico if the court enforces the safety orders.
The company says building separate, state-specific apps does not make economic or engineering sense.
Professor Ryan Calo noted a statewide blackout would be easy to bypass with VPNs, raising liability questions.
Meta will appeal the $375 million verdict and the jury’s finding of child-safety failures, referencing its 2021 temporary news-content shutdown in Australia.

Summary

Torrez Blasts Meta

Attorney General Raúl Torrez said Meta rewrote rules and bowed to dictators to keep market access, calling it an ethical breach.
Meta warned that singling out its platforms ignores hundreds of teen apps, leaving parents without full safety support.
Torrez argued Meta values engagement and ad revenue over child safety, showing a profit-first culture.
Observers said state mandates on one firm may fail because children use many fragmented apps.

Summary

Meta Faces Trial

The remedies-phase bench trial runs for three weeks, starting on 4 May 2026.
New Mexico’s complaint labels Meta’s platforms a nuisance, with Meta’s filing rebuting the claim by likening its services to fast-food chains not liable for obesity.
The reforms call for age verification, minimum ages, safer algorithms, warning labels, bans on adult exploiters, and limited encryption for minors, overseen by a court-appointed child-safety monitor the attorney general has not yet chosen.

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Meta Fined

A New Mexico jury awarded $375 million after finding Meta liable for endangering children under the Unfair Practices Act.
Attorney General Raúl Torrez (D) criticized Meta and said the company can make the changes it has implemented.
Meta claimed the 99 % CSAM detection, 99 % age-verification and no-infinite-scroll demands are impossible and would not improve teen safety.
A bench trial on protections for users under 18 will start on May 4, 2026.

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