As L.A. jury deliberates, another social media lawsuit ends in $375-million verdict

Jurors in New Mexico leapfrogged their California peers Tuesday, handing down a $375-million verdict against Meta for endangering children while a similar lawsuit remains pending in Los Angeles County.

The jury in Santa Fe came back with a decision in just hours while the L.A. panel slogged through its eighth day of deliberations over charges that the parent company of Facebook and Instagram intentionally hooked underage users.

“The jury’s verdict is a historic victory for every child and family who has paid the price for Meta’s choice to put profits over kids’ safety,” said New Mexico Atty. Gen. Raúl Torrez, who filed suit in 2023 alleging the social media giant’s platforms “enabled pedophiles and predators to engage in child sexual exploitation.”

Torrez added: “The substantial damages the jury ordered Meta to pay should send a clear message to big tech executives that no company is beyond the reach of the law.”

Meta vowed to appeal the decision.

“We respectfully disagree with the verdict and will appeal,” Meta said in statement Tuesday. “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. We will continue to defend ourselves vigorously, and we remain confident in our record of protecting teens online.”

New Mexico’s suit was just the second of its kind to reach a jury, beginning about a week after the California trial opened in Los Angeles Superior Court on Jan. 27. Many of the same expert witnesses testified in both trials, which sought to show Meta knew young kids used its products and designed them in ways that left those children exposed to harm.

At issue in the California case was whether Instagram and co-defendant YouTube were designed to addict kids, and whether the companies failed to warn families of those dangers.

The Santa Fe jury deliberated for just seven hours before arriving at a judgment — a fraction of the $2 billion the state had asked for.

Meanwhile, jurors in Los Angeles have sent questions to the court signaling they are deciding over damages for one defendant and potentially deadlocked on liability for the other.

Grieving parents who’d camped out in court hallways for more than a week awaiting the California decision cheered and embraced as they watched the New Mexico verdict over live-stream. They and others hope these early decisions could upend how social media giants approach child safety and rewrite the rules of engagement for their youngest users.

With thousands of related cases pending together in California state and federal court, Meta alone could end up on the hook for billions in damages — money its insurers are not responsible to cover, a Delaware court ruled this month.