Jurors begin deliberations in state's trial against Meta

SANTA FE — New Mexico asked jurors Monday to impose a penalty of more than $2 billion against digital giant Meta, arguing the company failed to protect teenage users from sexual predators and harmful content on its online platforms.

Jurors began deliberations Monday following six hours of closing arguments and a marathon six-week trial that included testimony from 40 witnesses. Jurors now face the task of sifting though hundreds of documents, reports and emails offered as evidence.

New Mexico Attorney General Raúl Torrez filed the suit against Meta Platforms and CEO Mark Zuckerberg in 2023, alleging the parent company of Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp failed to protect children from sexual abuse, online solicitation and human trafficking.

Prosecution attorney Linda Singer said in closing arguments that Meta deceived teenagers and parents about the dangers they face on the company's platforms and asked jurors to impose the maximum penalty of $5,000 for each of the estimated 221,000 New Mexico teenagers who use Facebook and Instagram.

Internal documents showed that Meta was aware of extensive content between children and adult users but failed to disclose the information to the public, Singer said. In particular, Meta's algorithms directed adults to content posted by teenage users, she told jurors.

"Meta failed to explain that the algorithm was designed to maximize teen time spent on the platform," Singer said. "Meta didn't disclose the likelihood that the algorithm would introduce predators to teens, that it would recommend such sensational and harmful content."

Meta's attorney, Kevin Huff, called New Mexico's case against Meta an effort to get $2 billion in cash based on false claims that the company failed to disclose potential risks to teenage users of its apps.

Huff argued that New Mexico didn't meet its burden of showing that Meta violated state law by failing to disclose known risks of its platforms for young users.

"Meta constantly makes disclosures on many of the topics we've been discussing at this trial," Huff told jurors. "Meta isn't hiding anything about the risk of the platforms. It discloses them everywhere."

New Mexico's attorneys must prove that Meta violated the state's Unfair Practices Act by misleading New Mexicans about the safety of its products for children. The 1st Judicial District Court trial in Santa Fe began Feb. 9 before Judge Bryan Biedscheid.

Huff also argued that the number of Meta app users the state claims exceeds the number of teens in New Mexico, which he estimated at about 143,000.

A New Mexico attorney responded Monday that the figure of 221,000 teenaged users in New Mexico is based on Meta's own data.

"If its more than the number of New Mexico teens, that likely reflects that there are people under 13 on this platform who lie about their age," Chief Deputy Attorney General James Grayson said in the state's rebuttal. Meta's rules prohibit children under 13 from creating Facebook and Instagram accounts.

New Mexico’s case

Singer told jurors Monday that internal reports and emails shown to jurors showed that Meta valued teenage users. Directives to target teen users came directly from Zuckerberg, she said.

"He wanted more kids on Instagram, and he wanted them to spend more time on the platform," Singer said in closing arguments. "You can see that in this document here, Mark has decided the top priority for the company in 2017 is teens," she said, referring to a 2017 email among top Meta executives.

Singer alleged that internal records showed that Meta knowingly failed to enforce its stated policy that barred children under 13 from opening Instagram accounts, failing to require age verification to open accounts.

"You learned that Instagram does not take the most basic steps to learn the age of its users," Singer told jurors. "If you can’t tell who is a kid and who is an adult, you can't protect them. Policies without enforcement don't work."

Meta also introduced an algorithm or automated program in 2016 that directed users to content based on the user's interest, Singer said. The algorithm increased time teens used the app and made it easier for sexual predators to find content posted by children, she said.

"Meta failed to explain that the algorithm was designed to maximize teen time spent on the platform. Meta didn't disclose the likelihood that the algorithm would introduce predators to teens," she said. Meta directed employees to avoid use of the word “addiction” and comparisons to addictive substances in relation to social media use, she said.

"If you can't inform parents and teens about addiction, you can't address it,” she said. “You can't fix what you can't say or see."

Meta also failed to disclose to the public findings in internal reports showing that the incidence of suicide and self-injury was higher for teenagers than adults among users of Meta platforms.

Meta's response

Meta has argued throughout the trial that the company has designed many tools intended to detect and remove harmful content and sexual predators from its apps.

"Meta designs its apps to help people connect with friends and family, not to try to connect predators" with teenagers, Huff said. New Mexico failed to prove that it intentionally designed apps to make it easier for predators to contact teenagers, he said.

"Meta has launched many, many tools to try to prevent unwanted contact between adults and minors," he said. Meta also created technology to detect and report child sexual abuse material, or CSAM, and made it available to other companies at no cost.

Meta also introduced Teen Accounts, which included a bundle of tools intended to shield young users from adults and mitigate the risk of problematic use among teenagers, Huff told jurors.

"If Meta had really willfully designed its apps to help predators connect with teens, why would it build all these tools," he said.

Huff also told jurors that the state's Unfair Practices Act pertains to products sold to customers.

"You all have heard that Meta's apps are free," he said. "There's no sale between users of the apps and Meta. That's a huge problem for the state."