In the second phase of a pivotal trial in New Mexico, a judge ordered Meta to pay an additional $567 million, most of which will go toward mental health services for youth, and the company must incorporate numerous new safeguards.
A ruling Thursday from Judge Bryan Biedscheid in New Mexico adds $567 million in penalties to the $375 million Meta was ordered to pay in March, when a jury found the company liable for knowingly harming children’s mental health and concealing what it knew about child sexual exploitation on Facebook and Instagram. As CNN reports, the latest order directs $420 million toward treatment services for young people, with the remaining money going to prevention and awareness efforts, screening services, and other costs over the next five years.
The judge also imposed a series of restrictions on how Meta operates its platforms in New Mexico. For users under 18, Facebook and Instagram must disable push notifications from 8 am to 3 pm on weekdays during the school year, and from 10 pm to 7 am on other days. Teen accounts in the state must also default to private settings, while Meta must prevent New Mexico users from engaging in romantic or sexualized interactions with its AI chatbots.
The order requires Meta to delete accounts and all personal information collected from users under 13. According to PBS, the company must also create banner notifications and informational screens explaining its safety features, recommended practices, and tools for dealing with inappropriate comments, with the state reviewing those materials and an accompanying educational campaign.
Age verification was another major part of the ruling, although Biedscheid stopped short of requiring Meta to verify the age of every child on its platforms. The court said federal privacy law, including the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act, prevents it from ordering Meta to collect additional personal information from children under 13 or passively track them online solely for age verification.
PBS reports that Meta must instead continue improving its age-assurance technology in New Mexico, including AI systems that estimate a user’s age based on factors such as their friends and the content they post and consume. The company has two years to develop a model specifically designed to identify users under 13.
Meta must also work with schools or a child safety organization to establish a reporting system through which school employees can flag users who may be under 13.
The case reportedly began in 2023, when New Mexico Attorney General Raúl Torrez sued Meta, accusing the company of creating a “breeding ground” for child predators on Facebook and Instagram. Meta denied the allegations. A jury found the company liable on all counts in March, including violating New Mexico laws against “unfair and deceptive” and “unconscionable” business practices, and ordered it to pay $375 million in damages.
Meta said Thursday that it disagrees with Biedscheid’s latest ruling and plans to appeal.
“We remain confident in our record of protecting teens online and will continue to defend ourselves against claims that misrepresent the facts,” Meta said in a statement.
Torrez said the latest ruling establishes that companies can be held responsible when the design of their products knowingly puts children at risk, per PBS.
"Today's decision is a victory for every parent who has worried about what social media is doing to their child and every child who deserves to grow up safer online," he said.
The New Mexico case is one of several legal battles Meta has faced over alleged harms to children. Later this month, Meta is reportedly scheduled to go to trial in federal court in Oakland in the first of 29 states’ cases alleging that Facebook and Instagram were designed to be addictive and contributed to the youth mental health crisis. Eight other states have filed separate cases in state courts, including Tennessee, where a trial is already underway.
Meta and Google were found liable in a Los Angeles case in March that was brought by a young woman, now 20, who claimed she became addicted to Instagram and YouTube after starting to use both as a child.
Meta, YouTube, Snap and TikTok also settled a lawsuit in May brought by a Kentucky school district over allegations that their platforms were addictive. Financial terms of that settlement were not disclosed. Last month, the four companies were sued by the families of four teenagers who died by suicide, alleging years of escalating harm from using the platforms.
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