Social media: Meta declared responsible for endangering minors by a court in the United States

Meta to appeal

Just minutes after the announcement of the decision, a spokesperson for Meta indicated that the social media giant would appeal. “We are working hard to protect users of our platforms and are transparent about the challenges posed by identifying and suspending malicious users and harmful content,” he added.

Prosecutor Raul Torrez had sued Meta at the end of 2023, accusing them of endangering children by exposing them to inappropriate content and sexual predators. “New Mexico is proud to be the first state to hold (social media operators) accountable for deceiving parents, enabling the exploitation of minors, and endangering children,” Raul Torrez commented in a statement.

For him, the amount awarded to the victims “should send a clear message to tech leaders,” “no company is above the law.” “This is a turning point for all parents worried about what could happen to their children when they go online,” he concluded, “and this victory is theirs.”

It took the jury less than a day to reach a decision, after six weeks of debate. The two billion requested by the prosecutor was calculated based on the number of monthly Facebook and Instagram users under 18, totaling just over 200,000 people in New Mexico.

In her closing argument on Monday, public ministry representative Linda Singer accused Meta of misleading communication about its measures to protect minors. She also criticized the Menlo Park (California) group for encouraging minors to overuse their platforms, knowing the effects this could have.

This argument is similar to the one made in a simultaneous trial in Los Angeles, targeting Meta and Google, with the jury continuing deliberations into the 9th day on Wednesday.

New strategy

In the California case, a young woman is seeking redress from the two tech giants, accusing them of designing their applications so that young users spend as much time as possible on them. She claims that using Instagram and YouTube, subsidiaries of Meta and Google respectively, contributed to causing depression, anxiety, and body image issues for her.

Until now, social media operators had avoided lawsuits thanks to section 230 of an American law, which exempts them from liability for user-generated content online. In Santa Fe as well as in Los Angeles, plaintiffs have adopted a new strategy, attacking the platform’s design rather than its content and the lack of prevention of the dangers incurred, akin to tactics successfully used against the tobacco industry.

The Los Angeles trial, like the one in New Mexico, is considered an important test for the future of thousands of similar complaints in the United States. In the New Mexico trial, the prosecutor “did not succeed in his demonstration,” a Meta spokesperson had stated before the judgment was handed down.

“We will continue to vigorously defend ourselves and remain confident in our track record regarding the protection of teenagers online,” the spokesperson declared once the decision was known.