Published August 2, 2026
A New Mexico jury ordered Meta to pay $375 million after finding the company misled users about the safety of its platforms and put children at risk — a separate case and verdict from the $6 million Meta/YouTube judgment handed down in Los Angeles in March 2026. Together, the two verdicts mark the second and third times a jury has ruled against Meta on social media addiction and safety claims in 2026.
While both cases involve allegations that Meta's platforms were designed in ways that harmed young users, the New Mexico case centered specifically on claims that Meta misrepresented how safe its platforms were for children — a framing closer to consumer-protection and misrepresentation theories than the product-design-liability theory that succeeded in the March verdict.
These verdicts arrive as Meta faces its biggest test yet: a trial set to begin August 18, 2026 in Oakland, in which California, Colorado, Kentucky, and New Jersey are seeking civil penalties reported near $1.5 trillion over claims that Meta designed Facebook and Instagram to be addictive to young users. U.S. District Judge Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers recently ruled that trial will proceed, largely denying Meta's motions for summary judgment after finding too many factual disputes — including questions about Meta's platform design choices, its internal knowledge of teen mental health risks, and whether it misrepresented those risks publicly.
Two jury losses heading into that trial don't determine its outcome, but they add to a body of evidence and legal precedent that plaintiffs' and states' attorneys are likely to point to, and they raise the stakes for Meta considerably.
These verdicts and the upcoming states' trial focus on different legal theories, but the underlying harm — platform design contributing to a minor's mental health injury — is the same ground individual personal-injury claims are built on. See Atumio's social media addiction lawsuit page for a free eligibility review, or start your case review directly.