How Meta's New Mexico Loss Could Lead to Billions in Damages—and Worse
Florida alone has ten times the population of New Mexico. If the social media verdict’s math scales, Meta’s exposure across pending state cases could reach into the tens of billions.
Tonight I’ll be releasing a special episode of The Rip Current with Duke Law Professor Nita Farahany, whose book The Battle for Your Brain is a must-read for anyone thinking about behavior, tech, and the law. She’s been giving her Substack subscribers a seat inside her class on AI and the law, and it’s a fascinating look at the future of liability in a tech-centered world. She and I have been texting furiously as this case progressed, and we’ll be talking through this verdict and the possible outcome in the LA trial. Keep an eye out for that in your inbox this evening.
The New Mexico jury ordered Meta to pay $375 million in civil penalties, and Meta spokesman was quick to not only announce the company would continue to “defend ourselves vigorously,” he wrote on X that the judgement was “just a fraction of what the State sought.” Prosecutors had asked for more than $2 billion, it’s true. It sounds like Meta got a discount. But it could also turn out to be the last time Meta gets away paying that little.
New Mexico’s math was based on an estimated 208,700 monthly teen users of Meta’s platforms in the state and a maximum penalty of $5,000 per violation on two counts under the Unfair Practices Act — a theoretical ceiling of roughly $2.1 billion. The jury came in at $375 million, which works out to roughly $1,800 per teen user. That’s well below the statutory maximum. But it’s a number that can now be applied elsewhere, and could quickly add up to an enormous hole in Meta’s books. Let’s total up the company’s exposure.
