* Meta to appeal

* New Mexico attorney general accuses Meta of enabling

child exploitation

* Meta claims First Amendment, Section 230 shields it

from liability

By Diana Novak Jones

March 24 (Reuters) - A New Mexico jury on Tuesday found

Meta Platforms ( META ) violated state law in a lawsuit brought

by the state attorney general, who accused the company of

misleading users about the safety of Facebook, Instagram and

WhatsApp and of enabling child sexual exploitation on those

platforms.

The jury found that Meta violated New Mexico's consumer

protection law and ordered the company to pay $375 million in

civil penalties.

"We respectfully disagree with the verdict and will appeal."

a Meta spokesperson said in a statement. "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."

Representatives for the New Mexico attorney general did not

immediately respond to requests for comment.

META FACES BROAD CHALLENGE RELATED TO YOUTH MENTAL HEALTH

The jury's decision capped a six-week trial and marked the first

jury verdict on these claims against the social media company,

as it faces a broader challenge over how its platforms affect

young people's mental health.

New Mexico Attorney General Raúl Torrez, a Democrat, accused

the company of allowing predators unfettered access to underage

users and connecting them with victims, often leading to

real-world abuse and human trafficking.

Meta had denied the allegations, saying it has extensive

safeguards in place to protect younger users.

Meta has come under increasing scrutiny in recent years over its

handling of child and teen safety, spurred in part by

whistleblower testimony before Congress in 2021 that alleged the

company knew its products could be harmful but refused to act.

Separately, Meta is facing thousands of lawsuits accusing it

and other social media companies of intentionally designing

their products to be addictive to young people, leading to a

nationwide mental health crisis. Some of the lawsuits, which

have been filed in both state and federal courts, seek damages

in the tens of billions of dollars, according to Meta's filings

with financial regulators.

Meta has argued the company is shielded from liability in both

the addiction and the New Mexico lawsuits by the free-speech

protections of the U.S. Constitution's First Amendment and

Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act, which generally

bars lawsuits against websites over user-generated content. The

company has said the state's allegations of harm cannot be

separated from the content on the platforms, because its

algorithms and design features serve to publish content.

The New Mexico lawsuit grew out of an undercover operation,

which Torrez, a former prosecutor, and his office ran in 2023.

As part of the case, investigators created accounts on Facebook

and Instagram posing as users younger than 14. The accounts

received sexually explicit material and were contacted by adults

seeking similar content, leading to criminal charges against

multiple individuals, according to Torrez's office.

The state claims Meta told the public Instagram, Facebook

and WhatsApp are safe for New Mexico teens and children, while

hiding the truth about how much dangerous and harmful content

the company hosts. According to the state, internal company

documents acknowledged problems with sexual exploitation and

mental health harm. Yet the company, the state says, did not

institute basic safety tools such as age verification and

insisted it was safe.

The state also accused Meta of designing its platforms to

maximize engagement despite evidence they were harming

children's mental health. Features such as infinite scroll and

auto-play videos keep kids on the site, fostering addictive

behavior that can lead to depression, anxiety and self-harm, the

lawsuit claims.

New Mexico's lawsuit sought monetary damages, as well as an

order directing Meta to make changes to improve children's

safety while using the platforms.

"Over the course of a decade, Meta has failed over and over

again to act honestly and transparently," Linda Singer, an

attorney for the state, told the jury during closing arguments

on Monday. "It's failed to act to protect young people in this

state. It is up to you to finish this job."

Singer told the jury it could award more than $2 billion in

damages.

Reuters viewed the trial on Courtroom View Network.

Meta has argued it has been transparent about the fact that

it cannot catch all the harmful content on its platforms.

"What the evidence shows is Meta's robust disclosures and

tireless efforts to prevent harmful content. And these

disclosures mean that Meta did not knowingly and intentionally

lie to the public," Kevin Huff, an attorney for Meta, told the

jury during closing arguments.

In May, Judge Bryan Biedscheid, the judge who oversaw the

trial, is slated to hold a bench trial on the state's claims

that Meta created a public nuisance that harmed state residents'

health and safety. The state will ask Biedscheid to direct Meta

to make changes to its platforms to bring them in line with

state law.