The Brief

An overnight curfew for downtown L.A. was extended to Wednesday night, with officials citing heightened tensions between protesters and authorities that have resulted in violence and property damage.

The curfew, confirmed by an official in the mayor's office, will again be in place from 8 p.m. Wednesday to 6 a.m. Thursday. It extends east to west from the 5 Freeway to the 110 Freeway; and from north to south from the 10 Freeway to where the 110 and 5 freeways merge.

The LAPD said it and other local agencies made 203 arrests during the first curfew overnight Tuesday of people accused of failure to disperse, 17 arrests of people accused of violating curfew, one arrest of a person suspected of assault with a deadly weapon on a police officer, and one arrest of a person accused of shining a laser at a police airship.

Although the initial curfew was for one night, Bass had cautioned that she would consult with law enforcement and other local leaders on whether to extend the restrictions.

Bass has also stressed that the area under curfew is a small fraction of the city, she described it as about 1 square mile in a city that's more than 500 square miles. [Fact check: The area appears to be slightly larger, although still a fraction of the overall city footprint.]

LAPD Chief Jim McDonnell has warned that non-residents caught within the curfew zone would face arrest.

"If you are in the curfew zone during the restricted hours without that legal exemption, you will be arrested. If you assault an officer in any fashion, you will be arrested," he said.

Catch up on where things stand

The U.S. Attorney's Office announced Wednesday that two Los Angeles County men had been charged with possessing Molotov cocktails during the protests in downtown L.A. and the city of Paramount. The charges carry a potential sentence of up to 10 years in federal prison.

One of the defendants is a 23-year-old man from Paramount who is accused of throwing a lit Molotov cocktail over a wall and in the direction of sheriff's deputies during a protest on Saturday in that city. The other is a 27-year-old man from Long Beach, accused of holding a Molotov cocktail and a lighter during a protest on Sunday near federal buildings in downtown L.A.'s Civic Center. Both men are in custody, federal authorities said.

Two other people — a 32-year-old from Anaheim and a 43-year-old from Orange — face misdemeanor charges stemming from protests in Santa Ana. They're each accused of assault on a federal officer, according to prosecutors. They are accused of throwing objects, including water bottles and beer cans, during the demonstrations on Monday.

L.A. County District Attorney Nathan Hochman on Wednesday announced the filing of charges in five cases related to the protests. The charges include assault of a peace officer, commercial burglary, grand theft, vandalism and reckless driving stemming from protests over the weekend. If convicted of the charges, the defendants face time in state prison.

Hochman noted that investigators are continuing to gather evidence and more charges could be coming.

"There's a tremendous amount of video out there... ," Hochman said. "For people who have already engaged in this activity, we're coming for you."

Among those charged is a Gardena man accused of passing out commercial-grade fireworks to others at a Sunday protest. Members of the group lit the fireworks and threw them at police officers, Hochman said. An officer was injured by the sparks from one of the fireworks, the district attorney said.

Two other defendants are accused in separate incidents of driving motorcycles into a line of officers in downtown L.A. The incidents happened minutes apart. Several of the officers were knocked down, and one was injured, Hochman said.

Both LAPD Police Chief Jim McDonnell and L.A. County Sheriff Robert Luna spoke at the news conference and stressed that their respective departments respect the people's right to peacefully protest, but that officers and deputies would step in when someone breaks the law or puts others in danger.

"What we're talking about are the individuals who don't care about the issue at hand, because we will facilitate all peaceful First Amendment activity," Luna said. "But when you have people that are out here to commit acts of violence against our deputy sheriffs or police officers or just they're destroying our city, we're going to stop it."

Context on the protest response

Meanwhile, the protests continue mostly in relatively small areas of downtown L.A. and Orange County.

California state leaders have asked a federal court to block the Trump administration from using the military and the National Guard to police Los Angeles and other communities in the wake of immigration raids and the protests sparked as a result.

Gov. Gavin Newsom and state Attorney General Rob Bonta are seeking a temporary restraining order in federal court. They filed the request Tuesday morning.

The Defense Department asked for 24 hours to file a response, and the court granted that request. Newsom and Bonta will then have a opportunity to respond.

U.S. District Judge Charles Breyer set a hearing on the state's motion for Thursday afternoon.

In addition, Newsom and Bonta filed a lawsuit Monday that focuses on the same issues. Bonta said this week that President Donald Trump and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth unlawfully invoked a statute intended to prevent an invasion or rebellion even though that was not the case in Los Angeles.

“It’s not just immoral — It’s illegal and dangerous. Local law enforcement, not the military, enforce the law within our borders," Bonta said in a news release Tuesday. "The President continues to inflame tensions and antagonize communities. ”

About the protests — and White House — response so far

Protesters have confronted authorities in Los Angeles, Paramount and neighboring Compton since Friday over raids conducted by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement.

Tensions continued to rise Monday and Tuesday between protesters and authorities, and between federal and local officials over how to respond. As of Tuesday afternoon, aerial TV news footage showed multiple people being arrested downtown and a crowd of protesters temporarily forcing both directions of the 101 Freeway close.

Last weekend, Trump administration officials announced they were calling up the California National Guard in response to what the White House said were "violent mobs" attacking "ICE Officers and Federal Law Enforcement Agents carrying out basic deportation operations in Los Angeles."

Trump indicated he would send more members of the guard to Southern California as well as other military support.

NPR confirmed later that 700 Marines would be sent to L.A. in a support role.

The 60-day deployment of National Guard and Marines to L.A. is expected to cost $134 million, Hegseth and other defense officials told a California congressman Tuesday.

L.A. Mayor Karen Bass told AirTalk, LAist's daily news talk program, she had "no idea" what the National Guard troops and Marines heading for L.A. planned to do once they arrived, but she said she was certain they were not needed. She added that the city attorney is considering taking legal action against the Trump administration, similar to what Newsom and Bonta filed, although she doesn't know yet what the lawsuit would look like.

What we know about the ICE raids to date

At a news conference Monday evening, Bass said she knew of five ICE raids that had occurred across the region, with at least two occurring within the city of L.A.

" ICE does not tell anybody where they're going to go or when they're going to be there," Bass said.  "I can't emphasize enough the level of fear and terror that is in Angelenos right now, not knowing if tomorrow or tonight it might be where they live. It might be their workplace."

The mayor condemned the actions of the federal agents.

"At the beginning of this administration we were told raids would be to look for violent criminals, people who have warrants," she said.

"But I don't know how you go from a drug dealer to a Home Depot to people's workplaces where they just trying to make a living. It makes me feel like our city is actually a test case for what happens when the federal government moves in and takes the authority away from the state or away from local government."

The federal immigration sweeps prompted anger, protest and resistance from onlookers and immigrant rights groups that have braced for this type of action for months.

Outside City Hall on Sunday, Eli Lockwood of Hacienda Heights told LAist she was there for a planned demonstration to protest what she said were “disgusting attacks on our communities.”

“We have to stand united against the attacks on the immigrant community because an attack on one of us is an attack on all of us,” she said.

By Sunday morning, hundreds of National Guard members were on duty in downtown L.A., where two protests — one permitted and one not permitted — converged near the federal detention center.

The growing protest made for a rowdy and tense scene, punctuated by the sound of flash bangs and tear gas.

How are officials responding to the raids and protests?

Newsom on Sunday formally asked that Trump rescind the deployment he had ordered Saturday.

The governor called the plan to take over deployment from the state "a serious breach of state sovereignty," and "purposefully inflammatory," adding that it "will only escalate tensions," and that he'd been in "close coordination with the city and county, and there is currently no unmet need."

Bass has said she supports Newsom's request, adding that she had tried to dissuade the Trump administration from sending in troops.

U.S. National Guard are deployed outside the federal prison in downtown Los Angeles, Sunday, June 8, 2025, following a immigration raid protest the night before.

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"The last thing this city needs is civil unrest that is provoked," she said.

Trump said the move was needed on social media, turning the governor's name into an insult: "If Governor Gavin Newscum, of California, and Mayor Karen Bass, of Los Angeles, can’t do their jobs, which everyone knows they can’t, then the Federal Government will step in and solve the problem, RIOTS & LOOTERS, the way it should be solved!!!”

How is law enforcement scaling up?

LAPD Chief Jim McDonnell said the imminent arrival of U.S. Marines would be more of a logistical strain.

“The arrival of federal military forces in Los Angeles — absent clear coordination — presents a significant logistical and operational challenge for those of us charged with safeguarding this city," he said in a statement.

Now, hundreds of more law enforcement officers are also heading to Los Angeles. Newsom said Monday he's working with partner agencies to send more than 800 additional state and local law enforcement officers into Los Angeles "to clean up President Trump’s mess."

"Chaos is exactly what Trump wanted, now we are sending in hundreds more law enforcement to pick up the pieces," he said in a statement. "State and local leaders stand together, coordinated and resolute to ensure the safety of the Los Angeles region.”

The Governor’s Office of Emergency Services is now formally requesting the deployment of officers from a range of neighboring jurisdictions, including the California Highway Patrol and the sheriff's departments in Orange, Ventura, San Bernardino and Santa Barbara counties.

What's the role of the National Guard?

Two starkly contrasting pictures of conditions in the L.A. area continue to be offered by Trump and his allies, compared with local and state officials.

While Fox News and other conservative media used captions like "L.A. Riots" and the term "rioters" was trending on X, closer to home, authorities described isolated skirmishes and urged calm. Some national outlets seem to think Paramount, where some violence was reported, was located within the city of Los Angeles.

U.S. Rep. Nanette Barragán, whose district includes Paramount, told LAist Sunday morning that she'd been in close contact with the L.A. County Sheriff's Department, which patrols the area.

"We don't need additional assistance," she said. "We have everything under control... the Sheriff's [Department] in Paramount got everything under control yesterday and LAPD has cleared out downtown last night without the help of National Guard."

The Sheriff's Department told LAist that two deputies had been injured Saturday, treated at a hospital and released. It also said people threw bottles and set off fireworks; some were detained.

Bass and other local and state leaders have urged protesters to remain peaceful, saying there is no place for violence or attacks on police as people exercise their First Amendment rights.

Barragán said her constituents are upset: "People are angry. ... They're concerned. There's a lot of anxiety about immigration enforcement."

The effect " is terrorizing the community, and now you send the National Guard, you know, against their own people, and that is of course going to escalate the situation, and we're trying to deescalate. And I think this administration knows what they're doing. They're trying to have a distraction."

What led up to Trump's action

The conflict in Paramount, a city of about 56,000 residents south of downtown L.A., attracted national attention after protests near a Home Depot extended into Saturday. Those protests appear to have begun when ICE agents were spotted in the area.

As the situation there was still developing, L.A. County Sheriff's Department officials said in a statement that "as the situation escalated, the crowd of protesters became increasingly agitated, throwing objects and exhibiting violent behavior toward federal agents and deputy sheriffs."

An anti-ICE protester challenges deputies in Paramount on Saturday.

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At that point, the department said it requested additional resources "countywide." The statement did not reference the National Guard.

"We will protect your right to peacefully protest," Sheriff Robert Luna said in an interview included in the statement, "but we will not tolerate violence or destruction of property."

The Sheriff's Department also clarified that they were not participating in any immigration enforcement actions, saying: "When federal authorities come under attack and request assistance, we will support them and provide aid. However, this does not mean that we are assisting with their immigration actions or operations; rather, our objective is to protect them from any violent attacks. Any assault on federal or local law enforcement is unacceptable."

In Los Angeles by contrast, LAPD officials released a statement at about 7:30 p.m. Saturday calling the day's protests in the city "peaceful" and commending "all those who exercised their First Amendment rights responsibly," adding that the department "appreciates the cooperation of organizers, participants and community partners who helped ensure public safety throughout the day."

Later in the evening, LAPD officers ordered protesters in downtown L.A. to disperse and closed Alameda between Los Angeles Street and 2nd Street to both pedestrians and vehicles.

The scene late Saturday in downtown Los Angeles near the central jail.

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What we know about the ICE raids

Initially, ICE officials said 44 people were arrested in the raids, although some news reports placed the number at more than 120 by late Saturday.

"ICE officers and agents alongside partner law enforcement agencies, executed four federal search warrants at three locations in central Los Angeles," ICE spokesperson Yasmeen Pitts O'Keefe said in a statement.

Confrontations between what appeared to be ICE officers and people in the streets of downtown L.A. could be seen in video aired on local television and shared on social media.

At times, uniformed agents or officers could be seen physically moving people who appeared to be blocking the officers and their vehicles.

Reports shared via the social media platform X said ICE was seen in the Garment District area of L.A. Another video showed federal agents in the parking lot of a Home Depot in Westlake, according to the Los Angeles Times.

Angelica Salas, executive director of the Coalition for Humane Immigrant Rights, known as CHIRLA, said her organization estimated there were at least 45 detentions.

Among them was Service Employees International Union California President David Huerta. They said Huerta had been injured and was receiving medical attention while in custody.

“What happened to me is not about me; this is about something much bigger," Huerta said in a statement released by the union. "This is about how we as a community stand together and resist the injustice that’s happening. Hard-working people, and members of our family and our community, are being treated like criminals. We all collectively have to object to this madness because this is not justice. This is injustice. And we all have to stand on the right side of justice.”

Several immigrant rights leaders and activists, along with some city elected officials, attended a large rally Friday evening to share their reactions to the federal operations and call for a stop to them. Later, more than 300 people marched a few blocks toward the federal detention center.

Protesters march after federal immigration authorities conducted an operation on Friday, June 6, 2025, in Los Angeles.

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Reaction from city officials

Since Friday, L.A. Mayor Karen Bass has been vocal in speaking out against the ICE raids.

"As a mayor of a proud city of immigrants, who contribute to our city in so many ways, I am deeply angered by what has taken place," Bass said in a statement Friday. "These tactics sow terror in our communities and disrupt basic principles of safety in our city.

"My office is in close coordination with immigrant rights community organizations," the mayor continued. "We will not stand for this."

All 15 members of the City Council released a joint statement that echoed some of the same points the Bass made.

"We condemn this in no uncertain terms: Los Angeles was built by immigrants and it thrives because of immigrants," the statement read. "We will not abide by fear tactics to support extreme political agendas that aim to stoke fear and spread discord in our city.

"To every immigrant living in our city: We see you, we stand with you, and we will fight for you," the statement continued. "Los Angeles will continue to be a place that values and dignifies every human being, no matter who they are or where they come from.”

Los Angeles Police Chief Jim McDonnell said his department was not involved in the ICE operations.

“While the LAPD will continue to have a visible presence in all our communities to ensure public safety, we will not assist or participate in any sort of mass deportations, nor will the LAPD try to determine an individual’s immigration status,” he said.

After the sweeps, photographers captured several protesters being detained by officers. Addressing a crowd at a rally, L.A. Councilmember Eunisses Hernandez pushed back against previous statements by the Trump administration that ICE would focus their efforts on dangerous criminals.

"It's never, ever, ever been the case," Hernandez said. "Because when they come for one of us, they come for all of us. And we have to remember that."

Dozens of immigration activists gathered in downtown Los Angeles to protest a series of federal immigration operations Friday, June 6, that resulted in several detentions.

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Councilmember Ysabel Jurado noted the timing of the ICE operations, stressing that they happened at a time when families and students are celebrating graduations and the LGBTQ+ community is celebrating Pride Month.

"What kind of government plans this during our most sacred moments of joy?" Jurado asked. "The footage speaks for itself. This is cruelty disguised as policy."

Mass deportations

Since Trump was elected, immigrant rights groups in Southern California have been on edge. Trump has promised “mass deportations” of unauthorized immigrants. There have been protests that have shut down freeways and high school walkouts by students protesting the administration.

“Los Angeles immigrant communities and allies have been preparing,” Andres Kwon of the American Civil Liberties Union told LAist in February.

The ACLU is part of the L.A. Rapid Response Network, a group of immigrant rights, legal and faith-based groups that has a hotline for people to report ICE activity and to seek help after a raid.

CHIRLA and other groups have hosted workshops that teach undocumented immigrants how to assert their constitutional rights, as well as how to prepare for worst-case scenarios. They’ve been telling people they don’t have to allow a federal agent into their home without a warrant and don’t have to reveal their immigration status.

The Los Angeles Unified School District began distributing “red cards,” also known as “Know Your Rights” cards, to help people assert their rights and defend themselves if they encounter federal immigration agents.

The effort came as the Trump administration announced it would allow ICE to conduct arrests in sensitive areas such as schools and churches, dismantling policies dating back to 2011.

Before L.A., ICE conducted high-profile enforcement actions in Chicago and Boston. Last week, an ICE raid on a restaurant in San Diego’s South Park neighborhood resulted in multiple arrests. While the raid was taking place, crowds gathered outside the restaurant where many people protested the action, filming the officers on their cellphones and surrounding their vehicles.

Detentions under Biden

Removals of immigrants by ICE and Customs and Border Patrol in the L.A. area were on the rise before Trump came into office. But the Washington Post reported earlier this year that ICE had struggled to boost arrest numbers despite an infusion of resources.

ICE/CBP removals in the L.A. Area of Operations, which includes much of Southern California, increased by more than 180% between the 2022 and 2024 fiscal years, according to ICE data. More than 3,551 people were removed in fiscal 2024, which ended Sept. 30.

Detentions also rose, according to the data.

While national detentions remained fairly constant over the past four years, L.A.-area detentions increased by 155% from 2022 to 2024, when 3,857 people were detained.

“That doesn’t surprise me,” Chris Newman, legal director and general counsel for the National Day Laborer Organizing Network, said earlier this year.

While in office, former President Joe Biden was under increasing political pressure to address illegal immigration.

“The Biden administration was focused on recent arrivals and people with criminal history,” Newman said.

From 2023 to 2024, the L.A. area had significant increases in detentions (432% increase from 217 to 1,154) and removals (547% increase from 223 to 1,443) of people who had not been convicted of crimes.

How we're reporting on this

Many reporters, editors and producers have been contributing to this story, which first published on Friday, June 7, with Frank Stoltze's byline, Dana Littlefield edited. Stoltze who was at the scene of the initial news conference and also reported from downtown L.A. over the weekend with Jared Bennett. Among other key contributors in the days since: Jordan Rynning, Josie Huang, Dañiel Martinez, Destiny Torres, Fiona Ng, Jason Wells, Ross Brenneman, Matt Ballinger, Erin Stone, Makenna Sieverston and Megan Garvey.

This is a developing story. We fact check everything and rely only on information from credible sources (think fire, police, government officials and reporters on the ground). Sometimes, however, we make mistakes or initial reports turn out to be wrong. In all cases, we strive to bring you the most accurate information in real time and will update this story as new information becomes available.

A federal judge in San Francisco said on Tuesday the government's ban on Anthropic looked like punishment after the AI company went public with its dispute with the Pentagon over the military's potential uses of its artificial intelligence model, Claude.

U.S. District Judge Rita F. Lin made the remark at the outset of a hearing about Anthropic's request for a preliminary injunction in one of its lawsuits against the Pentagon, which has designated the company a supply chain risk, effectively blacklisting it.

"It looks like an attempt to cripple Anthropic," Lin said, adding she was concerned that the government might be punishing Anthropic for openly criticizing the government's position.

Lin said she expected to make a ruling in the next few days on whether to temporarily pause the government's ban until the court decides on the merits of the case.

The hearing in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California is the latest development in a spat between one of the leading AI companies and the Trump administration, and it has implications for how the government can use AI more broadly.

Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei announced in late February that he would not allow the company's Claude's AI model to be used for autonomous weapons, or to surveil American citizens. President Trump subsequently ordered all U.S. government agencies to stop using Anthropic's products.

The Pentagon designated Anthropic as a "supply chain risk" earlier this month, citing national security concerns. That designation is normally reserved for entities deemed to be foreign adversaries that could potentially sabotage U.S. interests.

Anthropic has filed two federal lawsuits alleging that this designation amounts to illegal retaliation against the company for its stance on AI safety. It argues that the label will cost it both customers and revenue, since it will bar Pentagon contractors from doing business with the company, as well.

The lawsuits, filed in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California and the federal appeals court in Washington, D.C., allege the Trump administration violated the company's First Amendment right to speech and exceeded the scope of supply chain risk law.

In Tuesday's hearing, lawyers for Anthropic said it was apparently the first time such a designation had been made against a U.S. company.

Lin said the Pentagon has a right to decide what AI products it wants to use. But she questioned whether the government broke the law when it banned its agencies from using Anthropic, and when Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth announced that anyone seeking business with the Pentagon must cut relations with Anthropic.

She said the actions were "troubling" because they did not seem to be tailored to the national security concerns in question, which could be addressed by the Pentagon simply ceasing to use Claude. Instead, she said, it looked like the government was trying to punish Anthropic.

But a lawyer for the government argued that its actions were not retaliatory, and were based on Anthropic's disagreement with the government over how its AI model could be used — not the company's decision to speak out about it.

The government also argued that Anthropic is a risk because, theoretically, in the future the company could update Claude in a way that endangers national security.

Anthropic did not respond immediately to an emailed request for comment.

A Pentagon spokesperson said that the agency's policy is not to comment on ongoing litigation.

Copyright 2026 NPR

An oil pipeline that was shut down after a 2015 environmental disaster is flowing again after President Donald Trump issued an executive order earlier this month.

California mounted a legal fight against the pipeline this week. But environmentalists have won court rulings against the pipeline in recent years too.

Before state Attorney General Rob Bonta filed his suit, the Environmental Defense Center, a nonprofit focused on Ventura, Santa Barbara and San Luis Obispo counties, was already involved in its own ongoing lawsuit to keep the pipeline system shutdown. Last year, a judge granted the group a preliminary injunction to keep the pipeline closed.

“ It's a really dangerous project," said Linda Krop, chief counsel for the Environmental Defense Center. “It would not only cause harm to the environment, but it also threatens public health and safety and our local economy.”

The backstory

The pipeline runs through Gaviota State Park, known for its natural beauty and coastal biodiversity.

The 2015 Refugio Oil Spill released more than 123,000 gallons of crude into the waters off Santa Barbara’s Gaviota Coast, killing hundreds of birds and other wildlife, and spreading more than a hundred miles south into Los Angeles.

The Santa Ynez offshore oil platform and Las Flores Pipeline System responsible for the spill (then operated by Exxon) were shuttered — until the federal government ordered it to restart earlier this month, citing emergency powers and an energy crisis caused by the war in Iran.

Who gets to decide?

California regulators previously ruled that the company now operating the pipeline, Sable Offshore Corp., based in Houston, had to repair the pipeline system before operations could resume.

Krop said the federal government agreed in 2016 that the California fire marshal would have jurisdiction over the pipeline’s safety. And in 2020, she said, a court ruled that only the state could approve restarting the system — an agreement the federal government signed.

“It's not proper for the Trump administration or the secretary of energy to override a court order,” Krop said.

Now, the legal battle will be over who is in charge: the California fire marshal or the Department of Energy as ordered by Trump?

The Department of Energy did not respond to LAist’s request for comment.

Krop told LAist that Californians should be concerned from both an environmental and a constitutional perspective.

 “This is not just about Sable. This is about a constitutional crisis,” Krop said. “This is going to be the new precedent. … If they care about the ability of states to enforce their own laws, if they're worried about State Parks saying what can happen within their boundaries, then they should care about this.”

Is an energy crisis the real reason?

In a statement, Sable said the the federal intervention was “to address the energy scarcity and supply disruption risks caused by California policies that have left the region and U.S. military forces dependent on foreign oil.”

The U.S. is a net exporter of oil, though the global oil market’s complexity means that what is produced here doesn’t necessarily stay in the U.S.

Krop took issue with the characterization of an energy crisis to begin with, a sentiment shared by Bonta and other Democratic leaders in California.

Krop also challenged the assertion that restarting the pipeline would help lower gas prices.

“Gas prices are set on a global market, and right now they're influenced by what's happening in Iran and the war. This project will not make a bit of difference with gas prices,” Krop said. “People don't realize probably oil from this project, it's very heavy, low quality crude oil. There's not any guarantee that it's going to even make it to the gas pump.”

SANTA FE, N.M. — A New Mexico jury decided Tuesday that Meta knowingly harmed children's mental health and concealed what it knew about child sexual exploitation on its social media platforms, a verdict that signals a changing tide against tech companies and the government's willingness to crack down.

The landmark decision comes after a nearly seven-week trial, and as jurors in a federal court in California have been sequestered in deliberations for more than a week about whether Meta and YouTube should be liable in a similar case.

New Mexico jurors sided with state prosecutors who argued that Meta — which owns Instagram, Facebook and WhatsApp — prioritized profits over safety. The jury determined Meta violated parts of the state's Unfair Practices Act on accusations the company hid what it knew about about the dangers of child sexual exploitation on its platforms and impacts on child mental health.

The jury agreed with allegations that Meta made false or misleading statements and also agreed that Meta engaged in "unconscionable" trade practices that unfairly took advantage of the vulnerabilities of and inexperience of children.

How much does Meta owe

Jurors found there were thousands of violations, each counting separately toward a penalty of $375 million. That's less than one-fifth of what prosecutors were seeking.

Meta is valued at about $1.5 trillion. The company's stock was up 5% in early after-hours trading following the verdict, a signal that shareholders were shrugging off the news and its potential impact on the company's business.

The social media conglomerate won't be forced to change its practices right away. It will be up to a judge — not a jury — to determine whether Meta's social media platforms created a public nuisance and whether the company should pay for public programs to address the harms. That second phase of the trial will happen in May.

A Meta spokesperson said the company disagrees with the verdict and will appeal.

"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," the spokesperson said. "We will continue to defend ourselves vigorously, and we remain confident in our record of protecting teens online."

Attorneys for Meta said the company discloses risks and makes efforts to weed out harmful content and experiences, while acknowledging that some bad material gets through its safety net.

Other lawsuits against Meta over children's mental health

New Mexico's case was among the first to reach trial in a wave of litigation involving social media platforms and their impacts on children.

The trial that started Feb. 9. is one of the first in a torrent of lawsuits against Meta and comes as school districts and legislators want more restrictions on the use of smartphones in classrooms.

More than 40 state attorneys general have filed lawsuits against Meta, claiming it's contributing to a mental health crisis among young people by deliberately designing Instagram and Facebook features that are addictive.

"Meta's house of cards is beginning to fall," said Sacha Haworth, executive director of watchdog group The Tech Oversight Project. "For years, it's been glaringly obvious that Meta has failed to stop sexual predators from turning online interactions into real world harm."

Haworth pointed to whistleblowers like Arturo Bejar, as well as unsealed documents and other evidence, saying it painted a damning picture.

New Mexico's case relied on a state undercover investigation where agents created social media accounts posing as children to document sexual solicitations and Meta's response.

The lawsuit, filed in 2023 by New Mexico Attorney General Raúl Torrez, also says Meta hasn't fully disclosed or addressed the dangers of social media addiction. Meta hasn't agreed that social media addiction exists, but executives at trial acknowledged "problematic use" and say they want people to feel good about the time they spend on Meta's platforms.

"Evidence shows not only that Meta invests in safety because it's the right thing to do but because it is good for business," Meta attorney Kevin Huff told jurors in closing arguments. "Meta designs its apps to help people connect with friends and family, not to try to connect predators."

Tech companies have been protected from liability for material posted on their social media platforms under Section 230, a 30-year-old provision of the U.S. Communications Decency Act, as well as a First Amendment shield.

New Mexico prosecutors say Meta still should be responsible for its role in pushing out that content through complex algorithms that proliferate material that can be harmful for children.

"We know the output is meant to be engagement and time spent for kids," prosecution attorney Linda Singer said. "That choice that Meta made has profound negative impacts on kids."

What the New Mexico jury reviewed

The New Mexico trial examined a raft of Meta's internal correspondence and reports related to child safety. Jurors also heard testimony from Meta executives, platform engineers, whistleblowers who left the company, psychiatric experts and tech-safety consultants.

The jury also heard testimony from local public school educators who struggled with disruptions linked to social media, including sextortion schemes targeting children.

In reaching a verdict, the jury considered whether social media users were misled by specific statements about platform safety by Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg, Instagram head Adam Mosseri and Meta global head of safety Antigone Davis.

In deliberations, the jury used a checklist of allegations from prosecutors that Meta failed to disclose what it knew about problems with enforcing its ban on users under 13, the prevalence of social media content about teen suicide, the role of Meta algorithms in prioritizing sensational or harmful content, and more.

Juror Linda Payton, 38, said the jury reached a compromise on the estimated number of teenagers affected by Meta's platforms, while opting for the maximum penalty per violation. With a maximum $5,000 penalty for each violation, she said she thought each child was worth the maximum amount.

ParentsSOS, a coalition of families who have lost children to harm caused by social media, called the verdict a "watershed moment."

"We parents who have experienced the unimaginable — the death of a child because of social media harms — applaud this rare and momentous milestone in the years-long fight to hold Big Tech accountable for the dangers their products pose to our kids," the group said in a statement.
Copyright 2026 NPR

Members of Congress are now facing a personal consequence from the ongoing shutdown of the Department of Homeland Security: losing one special flight perk.

Delta Airlines is pausing special services that make flights more convenient and efficient for members of Congress, as first reported by the Atlanta Journal-Constitution.

"Due to the impact on resources from the longstanding government shutdown, Delta will temporarily suspend specialty services to members of Congress flying Delta," the airline said in a statement to NPR. "Next to safety, Delta's no. 1 priority is taking care of our people and customers, which has become increasingly difficult in the current environment."

Specialty services include airport escorts and other red coat services. Delta said lawmakers will be treated like any other passenger based on their SkyMiles status.

This comes a week after Delta CEO Ed Bastian told CNBC he's "outraged" by the ongoing shutdown, which has led to TSA officers working without pay.

"It's inexcusable that our security agents, our frontline agents, that are essential to what we do, are not being paid, and it's ridiculous to see them being used as political chips," he said.

The Department of Homeland Security, which includes TSA, has been in a partial shutdown since mid-February.

The shutdown means TSA officers are working without pay, and has led to widespread staff shortages and long wait times for travelers.

Other major airlines did not respond to NPR about imminent changes to their specialty services. A spokesperson for Southwest Airlines told NPR the airline "continues to engage with our federal partners and joins the airline industry in urging Congress to fund the TSA and CBP without further delay."

DHS ongoing shutdown

In the wake of the killing of two U.S. citizens by immigration enforcement officers in Minneapolis, Congressional Democrats said they wouldn't vote to fund DHS until changes — specifically for Immigration and Customs Enforcement — were put into place.

Senate Democrats and the White House have been trading proposals back and forth for weeks, with little progress.

Democrats have pushed to fund DHS with carveouts to not fund ICE and CBP to alleviate the TSA pain points as negotiations continue

Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., said Saturday that Democrats are having "productive conversations" on ICE reforms but that it's an ongoing process "that should not get in the way of funding our TSA workers."

"Let's keep negotiating the outstanding issues with ICE while sending paychecks to TSA workers now," Schumer said. "Let us end those long lines at the airport now. This is the logical, expedient, correct thing to do."

Republicans thus far have objected to votes on those proposals, pressing to fund the entire department.

Last week, a bill from Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas, to prohibit preferential screening at airports for members of Congress cleared the Senate. It has not yet been taken up by the House of Representatives.

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