More than 40 state attorneys general are currently investigating and suing major social media platforms—including Meta, TikTok, Discord, Reddit, and Character.AI—over child exploitation concerns and harmful design practices targeting minors. The investigations have intensified following a landmark $375 million jury verdict against Meta on March 24, 2026, when a New Mexico jury found the company liable for violating state law, prioritizing profits over safety, and concealing what it knew about child sexual exploitation dangers on Instagram and Facebook. This coordinated enforcement action represents the most aggressive multi-state crackdown on social media companies’ child safety practices to date, with dozens of cases moving toward trial throughout 2026.
The investigations span multiple dimensions of child protection: some focus on platform design features engineered to maximize addiction among young users, others target insufficient age verification and content moderation that expose minors to predators, and still others examine the specific exploitation of children through livestream features. The evidence uncovered in these investigations includes undercover operations where authorities created fake child profiles and encountered sexual solicitation, internal platform documents revealing knowledge of exploitation risks, and documentation of predators systematically using these platforms to contact and groom young people.
Table of Contents
- What Are States Investigating Social Media Platforms For?
- Which States Have Filed Lawsuits and What Are They Alleging?
- What Did the New Mexico Jury Verdict Reveal About Meta’s Liability?
- What Are the Specific Design and Moderation Failures States Are Alleging?
- What Do These Cases Mean for Families and Who Can File Claims?
- What Evidence Are Investigators Using to Build These Cases?
- What Are the Broader Implications and What Comes Next?
What Are States Investigating Social Media Platforms For?
State attorneys general are investigating social media platforms on multiple fronts, with investigations breaking down into three main categories: child exploitation and grooming risks, addictive design features targeting minors, and inadequate safety measures. The new Mexico investigation provides the clearest example of the exploitation focus—the state attorney general’s office created multiple fake Facebook and Instagram profiles posing as children, and these test accounts immediately encountered sexually suggestive content and requests to share pornographic material. Within weeks of launching these undercover profiles, three New Mexico adult men were arrested in May 2024 after contacting and soliciting sex from the fake child accounts, demonstrating that predators actively hunt for minors on Meta’s platforms. Beyond exploitation, state investigators have documented that platforms use addictive features deliberately designed to keep children engaged and returning repeatedly.
The investigation into tiktok revealed particularly troubling evidence: the platform’s own internal investigations found that adults were paying teenagers on TikTok LIVE to “strip, pose, and dance provocatively,” and the platform had hundreds of thousands of TikTok LIVE creators between ages 13-17 despite requiring users to be 18 to go live. This represents both a design failure (insufficient age enforcement) and an exploitation vulnerability (adult predators paying minors for sexual content). States are also examining deliberate deception by platforms. The New Mexico jury determined that Meta not only failed to protect children but actively “hid what it knew about child sexual exploitation dangers” and “concealed impacts on child mental health.” This distinction is crucial—the jury didn’t find negligence; it found intentional concealment of known risks.
Which States Have Filed Lawsuits and What Are They Alleging?
The scope of state enforcement is unprecedented. More than 40 state and territorial attorneys general have filed lawsuits against Meta alone, while TikTok faces investigations from multiple states including Utah, Florida, Hawaii, and others. In February 2026, 40 state attorneys general publicly urged Congress to pass the Kids Online Safety Act, emphasizing that they view social media platforms as posing “serious and growing risks” to minors. However, legislative change is often slow, which is why these state attorneys general have moved forward with civil litigation as the faster path to enforcement.
Texas has been particularly aggressive, with Attorney General Ken Paxton launching investigations into Character.AI, Reddit, Instagram, Discord, and other platforms. Texas also secured a $1.4 billion settlement with Meta in July 2024 over the company’s unlawful collection and use of facial recognition data—a separate but related privacy violation. Texas’s subpoenas to Discord, for example, specifically demanded documents on the platform’s marketing to children, age-verification enforcement, and content moderation practices. Florida similarly launched a civil investigation into Discord and warned that predators “specifically use Discord, TikTok, and Instagram to contact and exploit young people.” The TikTok litigation is particularly significant in scope: 14 separate lawsuits were filed in October following years-long investigations by multiple state attorneys general, all alleging that TikTok was specifically designed to addict young users and that the company deceived the public about exploitation and safety risks. Utah’s lawsuit specifically alleged that TikTok “profited off child exploitation,” while Hawaii’s lawsuit emphasized the platform’s use of “manipulative, dopamine-driven features” and failure to implement age verification that left minors exposed to sexual exploitation through LIVE features.
What Did the New Mexico Jury Verdict Reveal About Meta’s Liability?
The March 24, 2026 New Mexico jury verdict is a watershed moment because it represents the first time a jury has held Meta accountable in trial for child safety failures. The jury ordered Meta to pay $375 million in damages, but the specific findings are what matter most: the jury determined that Meta violated New Mexico’s Unfair Practices Act, prioritized profits over safety, and deliberately hid both what it knew about child exploitation dangers and the impacts on child mental health. These findings go beyond negligence—they establish intentional misconduct and deception. The underlying evidence included the state’s undercover operation where fake child profiles encountered sexual content and solicitation within days of account creation. The jury heard testimony about Meta’s internal knowledge, likely including internal documents and communications showing the company understood the risks but chose not to address them effectively.
This verdict has immediate ripple effects for other state cases: it provides a proven playbook for litigation, establishes that juries will hold Meta liable for these failures, and sets a damages benchmark. However, Meta will likely appeal, and appeals can take years to resolve, meaning the $375 million is not yet finalized. The verdict also likely strengthens other state cases. When 40+ state attorneys general see a jury award $375 million for the harms they’ve been alleging, settlement discussions change. Meta may face pressure to resolve multiple state cases rather than litigate each one individually.
What Are the Specific Design and Moderation Failures States Are Alleging?
State investigators have identified specific, recurring failures across platforms. The first major failure is inadequate age verification. TikTok’s own compliance records showed it had hundreds of thousands of creators aged 13-17 going live on TikTok LIVE, which the platform’s terms of service restrict to users 18 and older. This is not a technical problem—age verification technology exists—but a platform choice to deprioritize it. Similarly, Florida’s investigation into Discord focused on whether the platform adequately enforces age restrictions despite knowing that predators use the platform to contact minors. The second failure is insufficient content moderation combined with algorithmic amplification of exploitative content. New Mexico’s undercover operation documented that fake child profiles encountered sexually suggestive content and solicitation requests within days, suggesting that either (1) such content is not being moderated effectively or (2) the platform’s recommendation algorithms are directing predatory content toward child accounts.
This is the distinction between “bad actors exist on the platform” (inevitable) and “the platform’s design actively routes exploitation to children” (a design liability). The third failure is inadequate protections in monetization and creator features. The discovery that adults paid TikTok creators aged 13-17 to perform sexually for them represents a fundamental failure: the platform created a direct financial incentive that enabled adults to exploit children. The LIVE feature monetization without proper protections essentially turned minor exploitation into a revenue stream. A crucial limitation in these investigations: establishing that a platform knew about specific harms but failed to act requires either internal documents proving knowledge, or statistical evidence showing the harms were obvious and predictable. The New Mexico verdict succeeded because the jury found evidence that Meta “hid what it knew,” implying documentary evidence existed. Not all state cases will have equally clear evidence.
What Do These Cases Mean for Families and Who Can File Claims?
If you are a parent, guardian, or young person who has been harmed by exploitation on social media platforms—whether through solicitation, grooming, actual abuse, or documented mental health impacts connected to platform use—you may have legal options. The multi-state enforcement actions create potential pathways: first, some states may establish settlement funds if cases settle, which create compensation mechanisms for affected individuals. Second, many of these cases involve class action components, meaning individual users who meet certain criteria can join the litigation. Third, depending on your state and the specific harms, you may have independent rights to sue the platform directly. However, there are important limitations and procedural hurdles. Class actions typically require proof of specific harm, and proving that exploitation occurred “because of” the platform’s conduct rather than simply “on” the platform can be complex.
Additionally, some platforms have forced arbitration clauses in their terms of service that may prevent class actions—though state attorneys general can often bypass these restrictions in their enforcement actions. If you have a potential claim, consult an attorney in your state to understand whether you qualify for any existing settlements, pending class actions, or independent litigation options. The timeline matters significantly. The New Mexico case was decided in March 2026, and dozens of other cases are set for trial throughout 2026. Settlement discussions may accelerate or slow depending on how additional trials proceed. Early involvement in identified class actions is often beneficial because deadline dates apply.
What Evidence Are Investigators Using to Build These Cases?
State investigators have employed several evidence-gathering techniques that go beyond typical consumer lawsuits. The New Mexico undercover operation—creating fake child profiles and documenting sexual solicitation—is the gold standard: it provides direct evidence of the platform’s vulnerability to predators. However, this evidence also raises questions about entrapment and investigative tactics, which could complicate later proceedings, though the fact that real predators were arrested (not entrapped) strengthens the investigative legitimacy.
Investigators have also obtained internal platform documents and communications. The New Mexico verdict’s finding that Meta “hid what it knew” about exploitation dangers likely relied on internal emails, risk assessments, or compliance documents showing that Meta’s leadership understood these risks but chose not to disclose them to users or regulators. Similar document discovery is likely occurring in other state investigations. Additionally, statistical evidence showing the volume of child exploitation reports, the rate of predatory accounts, and the platforms’ response rates provides quantifiable proof of the scope of the problem.
What Are the Broader Implications and What Comes Next?
The multi-state investigation against social media platforms represents a broader shift in regulatory approach. Rather than waiting for federal legislation (which has stalled in Congress), state attorneys general are using consumer protection laws already on the books to hold platforms accountable. This creates a new playbook: future enforcement may target other platforms, other aspects of platform design, or other exploitative practices. The success of the New Mexico verdict against Meta may embolden other states to pursue similar litigation.
Looking ahead, 2026 will be a crucial year for outcomes. As additional trials proceed and cases settle, settlement amounts and compensation mechanisms will begin to emerge. The scale of potential liability—if 40+ states each obtain damages or settlements in the hundreds of millions—could force fundamental changes to platform business models, age verification practices, and content moderation. Federal legislation like the Kids Online Safety Act may also gain momentum as these trials generate publicity and proof of harm. For families affected by exploitation, these cases represent one of the most significant accountability moments in social media’s history.
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