A New Mexico court has ordered Meta to pay $567 million and make sweeping changes to how Facebook and Instagram operate for teenagers, after ruling that the platforms contributed to harms affecting children and young people in the state. The judgment adds to a $375 million civil penalty awarded by a jury earlier this year, taking Meta’s total liability in the case to nearly $942 million.Court orders five-year overhaul of teen protectionsJudge Bryan Biedscheid ruled that Meta’s platforms created a public nuisance in New Mexico and ordered the company to introduce a series of safeguards over the next five years.The measures include limits on teenagers’ monthly use of Facebook and Instagram, tighter restrictions on notifications and stronger controls over how adults can contact minors. The order also calls for additional safeguards involving Meta’s AI chatbots and enhanced scrutiny of reports involving child sexual abuse.The case has drawn particular attention from the education sector because the court said the alleged impact of social media extends beyond individual users and affects families, schools, hospitals and law enforcement.Meta says it will appeal rulingMeta has rejected the court’s findings and said it plans to challenge the judgment. In a statement to FOX Business, a Meta spokesperson said the company works to protect users and has been open about the difficulties involved in identifying harmful content and bad actors.“We work hard to keep people safe on our platforms and have been transparent about the challenges of identifying and removing bad actors and harmful content,” the spokesperson said.“We remain confident in our record of protecting teens online and will continue to defend ourselves against claims that misrepresent the facts,” the spokesperson added.New Mexico attorney general says Meta prioritised engagementNew Mexico Attorney General Raúl Torrez, who brought the case against Meta, accused the company of designing products that encouraged addictive use among young people while failing to adequately protect children from sexual exploitation.“For years, Meta knew its platforms were harming New Mexico’s kids, from feeding a youth mental health crisis to connecting predators with children, and it chose engagement and profit over their safety,” Torrez said in a statement, according to FOX Business.“Today, Meta is paying for that choice,” he continued. “This judgment holds the company accountable for the damage it caused to our children, our families, and our schools, and it forces real changes to how Meta operates in New Mexico.”Torrez described the ruling as a potential model for other jurisdictions considering similar action against social media companies.“For the first time, a court has ruled that a social media giant can be held liable for building products that endanger children and has ordered the structural changes needed to fix it,” he said. “New Mexico led the way in the courtroom. Now other states, and other countries confronting the same crisis, have a roadmap they can follow.”Judge compares social media harm to pollutionThe ruling followed three weeks of testimony in a trial that focused on whether Meta’s platforms amounted to a “public nuisance” under New Mexico law.Biedscheid compared the alleged effects of Meta’s platforms on children to pollution from a factory.“(J)ust as noxious pollution produced by the factory can harm the common public right to reasonably clean air, the harmful effects of Meta’s platforms on children do not stay contained by its platforms,” Biedscheid wrote.New Mexico filed the lawsuit in 2023, alleging that Meta’s platforms had become a “breeding ground” for child predators and that the company had misled users about its safety measures.
