Jury wallops Meta with massive penalty for harming children

A jury in New Mexico found Meta Platforms, which owns Facebook, WhatsApp, and Instagram, liable for harming children and ordered the company to pay an eye-popping $375 million fine, according to a new report.

The ruling concludes more than six weeks of testimony from company representatives and officials from New Mexico. Officials claimed that internal documents proved Meta was targeting young children with harmful content to keep children on their apps longer, which in turn boosted company revenue.

Meta disputed those claims, calling them "cherry-picked" and "taken out of context," local news station KRQE reported.

A spokesperson for the company said they "respectfully disagreed" with the jury's findings.

"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," the spokesperson said. "We will continue to defend ourselves vigorously, and we remain confident in our record of protecting teens online."