A New Mexico judge has ordered Meta to pay an additional $567 million into an abatement fund, bringing the total financial penalty against the company in the state to $942 million. This ruling comes after a previous $375 million fine for violating New Mexico's unfair practices act. The judge, Bryan Biedscheid, found that Meta's actions created a "public nuisance" by harming children's mental health through its platforms, Facebook and Instagram.
The majority of the new $567 million, specifically $420 million, is designated for the treatment of harms already caused, funding clinical and behavioral health programs for young people over the next five years. The remaining funds will support awareness, prevention programs, screening, assessment, referrals, coordination, implementation, and evaluation.
In addition to the financial penalties, the court mandated several operational changes for Meta in New Mexico. These include eliminating "like" counts for users under 18, banning push notifications for underage users during late night and school hours (10:00 PM - 7:00 AM and 8:00 AM - 3:00 PM on weekdays), and implementing a monthly usage limit of 90 cumulative hours across Instagram and Facebook for users under 18. Furthermore, Meta must ensure no underage user's account is recommended to an adult and no adult can message an underage user. The company is also required to ban the sending or receiving of nudity by underage users and enforce a "1-strike policy" for adult users engaging in child sexual exploitation.
Meta is also tasked with improving age verification tools, including developing an "under-13-years-of-age prediction model" within two years using AI signals. The company must partner with schools or child safety organizations to create a reporting portal for flagging underage users and must delete personal information collected from users under 13. Despite the substantial sum, the $942 million total represents only a small fraction of Meta's estimated annual profit of $60 billion in 2025, and investors showed minimal reaction, with the stock falling less than half a percent in after-hours trading.
This ruling is part of a growing number of lawsuits Meta faces regarding child safety and mental health. The ordered changes aim to curb addictive features, enhance age verification, and prevent child sexual exploitation on its platforms.
