New Mexico jury finds Meta violated consumer protection law at trial about child safety

A New Mexico jury finds that social media conglomerate Meta is harmful to children’s mental health and in violation of state consumer protection law. The jury announced its verdict Tuesday after nearly seven weeks of trial. State prosecutors had accused Meta of placing profits over safety in violation of the state’s Unfair Practices Act by failing to warn children on its platforms of potential impacts on mental health. Prosecutors also said the company failed to adequately monitor the platforms for child sexual exploitation. Attorneys for Meta had said the company discloses risks and makes efforts to weed out harmful content and experiences, while acknowledging that some bad material gets through its safety net. Meta owns Instagram, Facebook and WhatsApp.