Meta has been ordered to pay $375 million by a New Mexico court after it found the company liable for misleading consumers on its social platforms’ safety, as well as enabling harm to its users.

The trial also alleged that Meta enabled child sexual exploitation on its platforms, which include Facebook, Instagram, and WhatsApp.

The case marks the first time a jury has decided on such allegations against Meta – the firm faces numerous lawsuits across the US concerning its effect on young people and their mental wellbeing.

The lawsuit, brought to court by New Mexico Attorney General Raúl Torrez, argued that Meta had allowed predators to use its platform for decades, giving them unencumbered access to minors, which often proliferated into abuse in the real-world. The lawsuit cited several independent investigations showing that Meta platforms had become hotbeds for child trafficking.

Internal documents and testimony revealed as part of the trial showed that both Meta employees and child safety experts had raised concerns with Meta about its platform’s potential risk for child exploitation and harm.

It also heard details about internal qualms over Meta’s introduction of end-to-end encryption to Facebook Messenger, with Meta’s head of content policy calling the move “so irresponsible”.

The court also head the details concerning Operation MetaPhile, a sting operation that resulted in the arrest of three men using Meta platforms to prey on children sexually in 2024.

Investigators into child exploitation from law enforcement and the National Centre for Missing and Exploited Children (NCMEC) told the jury that Meta’s crime reporting methods were deficient, and its reliance on AI for content moderation lead to the creation of fake reports which were useless to law enforcement and could impede investigations.

In the trial, Meta’s CEO Mark Zuckerberg and Instagram chief Adam Mosseri defended their platforms, saying that their vast scope and user base meant that harms to children and the possibility for exploitation were inevitable, but both did defend their platform’s safeguards and transparency.

While Meta has continually introduced new guardrails for children and teens using their accounts, the lawsuit sought to find Meta liable for previous negligence when it came to child safety and exploitation.

Meta is set to appeal the trial, with a spokesperson saying: “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.

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“We will continue to defend ourselves vigorously, and we remain confident in our record of protecting teens online.”

The next phase of the trial will see the New Mexico attorney general seek court-mandated changes to Meta’s platforms to ensure it is safer for children, as well as further financial penalties.

The changes include effective age checks, the removal of known predators from the platforms, and “protecting minors from encrypted communications that shield bad actors.”