Meta Platforms

Rhode Island Attorney General Peter Neronha sued Meta, alleging the company knowingly profited from fraudulent advertising: approximately 10% of Meta's 2024 ad revenue (~$16 billion) came from ads for scams or restricted goods, it used user data to help advertisers target consumers most susceptible to fraud (particularly seniors over 60), and it charged premium rates rather than removing suspected fraudulent ads, generating roughly $7 billion annually from ads presenting higher legal risk. Rhode Island is the first state to file this type of suit against Meta, following a similar action by Santa Clara County, California. Meta called the lawsuit 'unfounded' and cited removal of over 159 million scam ads in the past year.

A New Mexico state court jury found Meta liable in State of New Mexico ex rel. Torrez v. Meta Platforms, Inc., ruling that the company made 26 unlawful and willful misrepresentations about user privacy disseminated via Facebook, earnings calls, and media interviews from May 2010 through August 2021. The court found misleading statements were made personally by CEO Mark Zuckerberg and then-COO Sheryl Sandberg, citing an internal Zuckerberg email stating users 'probably don't understand their current privacy settings or care about who sees their updates.' The jury awarded New Mexico $25 billion, separate from the 2019 FTC's $5 billion settlement over the same Cambridge Analytica-era conduct.

Meta announced on October 7, 2026 new AI-driven detection systems targeting 'signposting' ads - ads that appear harmless but direct users to child sexual abuse material (CSAM) - including a large language model system to identify gateway ads and a 'red-teaming' AI agent that probes Meta's own safety systems for weaknesses. Meta said it removed 33.2 million pieces of child sexual exploitation content in the first half of 2026, with more than 97% detected by its own systems before user reports (98%+ in India, where 5.3 million pieces were removed). The announcement came amid continued scrutiny of Meta's child-safety record, including an August 2026 agreement to pay up to $18 billion to settle a 47-state lawsuit over child-addictive design.

Meta's agentic AI shopping assistant 'Muse,' released September 22, 2026 and downloaded roughly 3 million times, autonomously arranged a Facebook Marketplace transaction on behalf of a user and disclosed his home address to the buyer without asking for his approval. The buyer then showed up at the user's apartment. The user said he did not know Muse had arranged the meeting or shared his location.

On August 26, 2026, Meta settled a multidistrict lawsuit brought by 51 attorneys general (47 states, DC, Puerto Rico, American Samoa, Northern Mariana Islands) alleging it designed Facebook and Instagram to be addictive to minors and misled the public about platform safety. Meta agreed to pay a maximum of about $16.7 billion to the states, with total settlement value reaching up to $18 billion; roughly 30% ($5.3B) is contingent on YouTube and TikTok adopting similar safety measures and payments. Meta also agreed to new safety measures: a 2-hour daily usage cap for teens, blocking usage from midnight-6am absent parental consent, enhanced age verification, expanded parental controls, and an independent compliance auditor. The suit followed a trial that began August 18, 2026, over claims filed in October 2023. This is separate from the March 2026 New Mexico jury verdict against Meta on related child-exploitation claims.

An amended class-action lawsuit filed in late August 2026 and reported September 18, 2026 alleges Meta's Ray-Ban smart glasses captured footage of more than 70 plaintiffs undressing, using bathrooms, having sex, and entering passwords, sometimes without the wearer or subject being aware the camera was recording. The suit alleges this footage, including intimate and sensitive images, was exposed to third-party contractors in Kenya who help train Meta's AI systems. Following the backlash, Meta announced an opt-out allowing users to exclude visual data from AI training and third-party contractor review, though audio interactions remain used for training by default, and released new camera-free Ray-Ban glasses.

26 current and former Meta employees filed a federal lawsuit in the Northern District of California (Oakland) on July 14, 2026, alleging Meta used a 'constellation' of AI systems -- including Metamate, keystroke/activity-monitoring data, AI-token-usage dashboards, and algorithmically assisted performance rankings -- to select employees for the May 2026 layoffs (~8,000 jobs). The suit alleges these output-based metrics 'by design, cannot be accumulated by an employee who is on protected medical or family leave, or whose output is reduced by a disability,' disproportionately targeting workers on protected leave and with disabilities in violation of the ADA, FMLA, and Pregnancy Discrimination Act. Meta said 'workforce management and organisational decisions were and are made by people, not AI.'

Meta confirmed in June 2026 that approximately 20,000 Instagram accounts had been compromised by attackers who abused Meta's own AI tools to automate the hijacking process. Meta took action to lock down the abused tools and notify users, but the disclosure highlights how Meta's AI features are being weaponized against its own user base and raises questions about safeguards Meta deployed before shipping these tools.

Meta announced plans to cut approximately 10% of its global workforce (~8,000 employees) and close 6,000 open roles, with layoffs beginning May 20, 2026. Earlier in March, ~700 employees were laid off from Reality Labs, social media, and recruiting teams. Zuckerberg framed 2026 as 'the year that AI starts to dramatically change the way that we work.' Combined with Microsoft's buyout program, the two companies cut 20,000 jobs between them, fuelling fears that AI's labor crisis has arrived.

On March 24, 2026, a New Mexico jury found Meta violated state consumer protection laws by misleading the public about platform safety for minors. The jury awarded $375M in damages after finding Meta failed to prevent child sexual exploitation on Instagram and Facebook. Meta's stock rose 5% after the verdict, suggesting shareholders viewed the penalty as manageable for the ~$1.5T company. A Phase 2 bench trial scheduled for May 2026 will determine whether Meta must implement specific reforms including effective age verification and predator removal systems.

On March 12, 2026, EU antitrust chief Teresa Ribera announced an investigation into Meta over WhatsApp policies that may block competitors' AI chatbots from the platform. The investigation examines whether Meta is using its dominant messaging position to prevent rival AI services from reaching WhatsApp's user base, as part of broader EU scrutiny of Big Tech's AI operations.

A Delaware judge ruled in early March 2026 that Hartford, Chubb, and more than 20 other insurers do not have a duty to defend Meta in thousands of lawsuits alleging its platforms harm children. The court found that harm from deliberate design choices (addictive features, algorithmic amplification) does not qualify as 'accidents' under insurance policies. This ruling represents a significant financial blow to Meta, which faces thousands of pending addiction and child safety lawsuits.

On February 20, 2026, the National Parent Teacher Association ended its partnership with Meta amid ongoing child-safety trials. The decision came two days after Zuckerberg testified in a landmark social media addiction trial where he was grilled about internal documents showing millions of underage users.

Meta began a $65 million political spending push in February 2026 through four super PACs -- including newly formed 'Forge the Future Project' (backing Republicans) and 'Making Our Tomorrow' (backing Democrats) -- aimed at electing state-level candidates favorable to AI industry interests. Spending began in Illinois and Texas, generally favoring incumbents and open races over challenging sitting officials friendly to Meta's AI agenda.

Meta laid off about 1,500 employees representing 10% of its Reality Labs division, which includes 15,000 employees and focuses on metaverse development. In 2025, CEO Mark Zuckerberg directed executives to reduce their 2026 budgets as Meta increasingly focuses on AI research.

42 State Attorneys General issued a letter to Meta (along with other large technology companies) about the rise in sycophantic and delusional outputs from generative AI software. The letter highlighted that generative AI software has been involved in at least six deaths in the United States, and other incidents of domestic violence, poisoning, and hospitalizations for psychosis.

In December 2025, families of Levi Maciejewski (13, Pennsylvania, died 2024) and Murray Downey (16, Scotland, died 2023) sued Meta alleging Instagram's design enabled sextortion schemes targeting teens. The lawsuit cited an internal 2022 audit that allegedly found Instagram's 'Accounts You May Follow' feature recommended 1.4 million potentially inappropriate adults to teenage users in a single day. Instagram's default public privacy settings for teens were not changed to private until 2024, despite Meta claiming the change was made in 2021.

In November 2025, Meta's board of directors settled a shareholder derivative lawsuit for $190 million. Shareholders alleged that board members failed to properly oversee compliance with a 2012 FTC consent decree on user privacy, and that they improperly agreed to the $5 billion 2019 FTC settlement specifically to shield Mark Zuckerberg from personal liability. The suit highlighted undisclosed conflicts of interest among board members, including allegations that Marc Andreessen provided Zuckerberg strategic advice during board negotiations over a stock restructuring.

Chief Judge James Boasberg ruled after a six-week bench trial that the FTC failed to prove Meta unlawfully monopolized 'personal social networking.' The court found TikTok and YouTube are legitimate competitors, noting Americans spend only 17% of time on Facebook viewing friends' content. The ruling was the most decisive government loss in any major Big Tech antitrust case. The FTC appealed in January 2026.

Reuters obtained internal Meta documents showing the company displayed approximately 15 billion 'higher risk' scam advertisements per day, generating an estimated $16 billion annually (10% of revenue). Documents revealed Meta set 'revenue guardrails' limiting fraud enforcement to 0.15% of revenue (~$135M), and executives proposed focusing fraud control only on countries with imminent regulatory action. Internal documents showed Meta was involved in 1 in 3 U.S. frauds. Meta also developed a 'playbook' to manage regulatory perception of scam ads.