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A New Mexico court has ordered Meta to pay $567 million into a fund addressing harm to young people. The ruling also requires changes to Facebook and Instagram for users under 18.
Judge Bryan Biedscheid issued the order Thursday after finding that Meta’s platforms created a public nuisance in the state. The decision applies to services offered to young users across New Mexico.
The order follows a March jury verdict that imposed $375 million in civil penalties. Jurors found Meta violated New Mexico’s consumer protection law by misrepresenting platform safety for children. Together, the two judgments bring Meta’s financial liability in the state case to $942 million. Meta plans to challenge both decisions.
New Mexico Attorney General Raúl Torrez filed the lawsuit in 2023. The state accused Meta of designing products that encouraged heavy use among minors. It also accused the company of failing to protect children from sexual exploitation.
Prosecutors focused on Meta’s product design, internal practices, and public safety claims. The complaint also alleged that Meta concealed internal knowledge about risks involving minors.
The court rejected Meta’s Section 230 defense for the public nuisance claim. Judge Biedscheid found that the case concerned company conduct and platform design, rather than liability for user posts. However, he declined to order changes to recommendation systems and certain engagement features. He cited legal, technical, and competition concerns.
The $567 million fund will operate for five years under the court’s abatement plan. The order allocates $420 million to treatment services for young people in New Mexico. These services include community programs and family-based behavioral healthcare. Other funding will support awareness, prevention, screening, referrals, administration, and evaluation.
The remaining $147 million covers the other areas listed in the plan.
The payment stands apart from the earlier civil penalties. The court designed the fund to address Meta’s contribution to the alleged harm. It did not require Meta to cover every cause of New Mexico’s youth mental health problems. State officials will oversee programs financed through the fund during the five-year period. The court reduced the state’s proposed fifteen-year plan.
The order requires monthly usage limits for teen accounts on Facebook and Instagram. Meta must restrict some notifications during school hours and overnight. It must also tighten controls on adult contact with minors. Other measures cover age-assurance tools, underage account reports, AI chatbot safeguards, and reviews of child sexual abuse reports.
Meta must improve tools that estimate a user’s age from account signals. The company must develop a model for identifying users under 13 within two years. It must also create a reporting channel for schools or child safety groups. Meta will report its compliance progress twice each year.
Meta disputed the findings and confirmed its planned appeal. “We disagree with the ruling and will appeal,” a company spokesperson said. Meta said it works to identify harmful content and remove bad actors. It also defended its existing parental controls and teen safety systems. The appeal could delay or alter parts of the order.
Torrez called the ruling a model for other governments pursuing child safety cases. More than 40 states and over 1,300 school districts have filed related public nuisance claims against social media companies. Those cases seek financial recovery, product changes, or both. New Mexico’s order directly combines a treatment fund with court-supervised platform rules.
