SANTA FE — A New Mexico judge has ordered Meta Platforms to pay $567 million to address harms to young people from its social media platforms, adding to a $375 million civil penalty imposed earlier this year in a landmark case over child safety.
First Judicial District Judge Bryan Biedscheid issued the ruling on Thursday after a second phase of the state’s case against Meta, the parent company of Facebook and Instagram. The court found that Meta’s platforms contributed to a public nuisance by exposing children to risks including mental-health harms and sexual exploitation, according to court proceedings and reports on the ruling.
Of the $567 million, about $420 million will fund treatment services for young people in New Mexico. The remainder is intended for prevention, screening, public-awareness programs and related measures over five years, according to the ruling.
The order also requires Meta to make changes to its services in New Mexico. Among the measures are stronger age-assurance systems, additional protections for minors from unwanted contact by adults, restrictions on notifications and safeguards involving younger users. Meta must also provide regular reports on its compliance with the court order.
The latest order follows a March jury verdict that found Meta liable for 75,000 violations of New Mexico’s Unfair Practices Act. Jurors concluded that the company knowingly harmed children’s mental health and concealed what it knew about child sexual exploitation on its platforms, ordering $375 million in civil penalties.
The combined penalties bring the financial liability in the case to $942 million. The second phase focused on the state’s claim that Meta’s conduct constituted a public nuisance and on measures designed to mitigate the alleged harm.
New Mexico Attorney General Raúl Torrez, whose office brought the lawsuit in 2023, has pushed for court-ordered changes to Meta’s products, including restrictions on features the state says encourage excessive use. Meta’s lawyers have argued that some of the proposed measures are unlawful or impractical and that broader decisions about mental-health funding should be made by the legislature rather than a judge.
Meta has said it disagrees with the ruling and plans to appeal, according to reports. The company has maintained that it works to protect young users and has challenged the state’s claims about the causes of youth mental-health problems.
The New Mexico case is part of a broader wave of litigation in the United States examining whether social media companies can be held legally responsible for harms allegedly associated with their platforms, particularly among children and teenagers.
