NEW MEXICO — A New Mexico court ordered Meta to pay $375 million after a jury found the company liable for misleading users about the safety of its platforms for children. The jury determined Meta violated New Mexico's Unfair Practices Act by exposing children to sexually explicit material and contact with sexual predators.

The $375 million civil penalty resulted from the jury finding thousands of violations of the act, each carrying a maximum penalty of $5,000. State prosecutors had proposed penalties of up to roughly $2.2 billion in fines during the trial.

"Today the jury joined families, educators, and child safety experts in saying enough is enough," said Raúl Torrez, New Mexico Attorney General. New Mexico sued Meta in 2023, claiming the company steered young users to sexually explicit content, child sexual abuse, solicitation of such material, and sex trafficking through its recommendation algorithms.

During the seven-week trial, jurors reviewed internal Meta documents and heard testimony from former employees indicating the company had been aware of child predators using its platforms. State prosecutors presented internal Meta research showing that 16% of all Instagram users had reported being shown unwanted nudity or sexual activity in a single week.

Arturo Béjar, who quit Meta in 2021 and became a whistleblower, testified that he ran experiments on Instagram that showed underage users were served sexualized content. Béjar said his own young daughter was propositioned for sex by a stranger on Instagram.

"Meta knew that, and it didn't disclose it," said Linda Singer, state attorney, during the trial. "It's failed to act to protect young people in this state. It is up to you to finish this job."

Meta disputed the verdict. "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," a Meta spokesperson said.

In 2024, Instagram released Teen Accounts to give young users more ways to control their experience. Meta also launched a feature last month to alert parents if their children were looking for self-harm content. Meta owns Facebook, Instagram, and WhatsApp.

Thousands of similar lawsuits against Meta are winding their way through U.S. courts.