A New Mexico court has escalated its child safety case against Meta, adding a $567 million fine to an earlier $375 million penalty from March. Together, the fines now total $942 million.
The ruling is not only financial. The court also ordered changes to how Meta’s platforms operate for underaged users in New Mexico, tying the judgment to concerns about social media harms, addiction, education, mental health, and sexual exploitation.
What the court ordered Meta to pay
The judge on Thursday ordered Meta to pay $567 million in the case. That amount comes on top of the $375 million levied in March, creating a combined total of $942 million.
The case centers on social media harms and addiction. According to the order, Meta’s products have been linked to harm experienced by people in New Mexico, especially in areas involving children and teens.
“Significant numbers of people in New Mexico experience harm from Meta’s products due to risks of sexual exploitation, interference with education, and adverse mental health outcomes,” the order said.
The judge said Meta is not the only platform connected to a youth mental health crisis in the state. Still, he found that Meta’s platforms play a significant part and said the company has caused a significant “public nuisance” in New Mexico.
Because of that finding, the court said Meta is required to abate the nuisance. In practical terms, the ruling attempts to move beyond punishment and into changes in how the platforms function for children in the state.
The platform changes required in New Mexico
The court ordered Meta to change several features for underaged users in New Mexico. The measures focus on visibility metrics, notifications, and time spent on the company’s platforms.
- Like counts: Meta must remove Like counts, and only show those metrics to children under 18 with approval from a parent or a guardian.
- Push notifications: Push notifications to underaged users in the state must be paused between 10 p.m. and 7 a.m.
- Usage limits: Underaged users’ usage should be limited to 90 hours a month, which amounts to roughly three hours per day.
Those requirements show how the court framed the issue. The order treats product design, engagement signals, and notification timing as part of the child safety debate, rather than focusing only on content removal or account enforcement.
The Like count change is aimed at a public metric that can shape how young users experience social feedback. The notification pause addresses late-night prompts, while the usage limit sets a monthly ceiling for underaged users in the state.
Meta says it will appeal
Meta said it is going to appeal the judgment. The company rejected the claims against it and defended its safety work.
“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. We remain confident in our record of protecting teens online and will continue to defend ourselves against claims that misrepresent the facts,” company spokesperson Andy Stone said in an emailed statement.
The company’s response points to the difficulty of identifying and removing bad actors and harmful content. It also signals that Meta will continue fighting the judgment rather than accepting the court’s conclusions as final.
State Attorney General Raúl Torrez framed the ruling differently. In his statement, he argued that Meta understood the risks to children and put business interests ahead of safety.
“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,” state Attorney General Raúl Torrez said in a statement.
“Today, Meta is paying for that choice. 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,” he added.
A wider legal fight over social media harms
The New Mexico ruling is part of a broader set of legal challenges facing Meta in the country. The company has already faced another loss in Los Angeles in March, where the court also ruled against the social media company for creating addictive patterns.
Meta is also facing several other cases. One notable case is a joint lawsuit by 33 states, consolidated in an Oakland, California federal court. Other states, including Tennessee, have brought their own cases against the company.
For Meta, the New Mexico judgment adds immediate financial pressure and creates a specific set of state-level operating requirements. For regulators and courts, it shows how child safety cases are increasingly focused on platform mechanics: metrics, alerts, usage patterns, and the ways digital products may shape behavior.
The appeal means the fight is not over. But the ruling already lays out a clear position from the New Mexico court: Meta’s platforms contributed significantly to a public nuisance in the state, and the remedy should include both money and product changes.