Within 48 hours, the legal landscape governing social media and children shifted in ways that will take years to fully understand and verify. On March 24, 2026, a Santa Fe jury ordered Meta to pay $375 million for violating New Mexico's consumer protection laws. The next day, a Los Angeles jury found Meta and Google 's YouTube negligent in the design of their platforms, awarding almost $6 million in damages to a single plaintiff. The dollar figures are drawing headlines, but a $375 million