SANTA FE — A New Mexico state court ordered social media giant Meta to pay $567 million to address harms caused to young users on its platforms, concluding the second phase of a landmark public nuisance trial. Judge Bryan Biedscheid of the Santa Fe District Court ruled that the parent company of Facebook and Instagram created a public nuisance across the state by engineering features that fostered addictive usage among teenagers while failing to protect children from online sexual exploitation. Under the court order, $420 million will be allocated toward mental health treatment services for youth, with the remaining $147 million supporting educational awareness campaigns, prevention programmes, screening services, and administrative costs over the next five years.
The substantial penalty comes five months after a New Mexico jury found Meta liable in the lawsuit’s first phase for violating state consumer protection laws. That earlier verdict ordered the tech firm to pay $375 million in civil penalties after finding that Meta misrepresented the safety of its apps and intentionally concealed known risks regarding child exploitation and teen mental health, bringing the total financial judgment against the firm in New Mexico to $942 million. Attorney General Raúl Torrez, who initiated the legal proceedings following an undercover investigation where state agents posed as minors to expose algorithmic flaws, characterized the ruling as a significant victory for child safety and digital platform accountability.
In addition to financial damages, the district court issued a five-year binding decree mandating structural operational changes across Meta’s platforms for New Mexico users. The court ordered Meta to implement monthly usage limits for teenagers, restrict push notifications, enforce stricter controls on adult communications with minors, establish safeguards against sexualized interactions involving artificial intelligence chatbots, and enhance internal review procedures for reports involving child sexual abuse material. However, the court declined to enforce mandated age verification procedures, noting that federal privacy statutes under the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act prevent companies from passively tracking or collecting personal data from children under 13.
Meta expressed strong disagreement with the judicial outcome and announced immediate plans to appeal the decision. In an official statement, the company maintained that it has invested heavily in developing specialized safety tools for teenagers, identifying bad actors, and removing harmful content from its ecosystem. The New Mexico judgment adds to mounting global regulatory pressure and legal challenges against major social media companies, as more than 40 American states, school districts, and international jurisdictions seek stronger legislative overhauls and court-ordered product safety standards to protect children online.
