A US judge in New Mexico has ordered Meta to pay an additional $567 million for failing to warn the public about the safety risks its platforms pose to children. The landmark decision represents the largest ruling against the social media giant over child safety issues to date, bringing its total financial penalties in this single case to $942 million.
Judge Bryan Biedscheid declared the tech giant a "public nuisance," comparing its operations to industrial air pollution. He ordered Meta to place the newly penalized $567 million into a specialized fund dedicated to mitigating future online harms. This penalty is stacked on top of $375 million in fines that Meta was previously ordered to pay during earlier proceedings in the same case.
In his ruling, Judge Biedscheid compared Meta to a factory, describing its advertising and content as its products, and "the psychological harm and sexual exploitation of children to be the pollution that must be abated." He noted that the damage caused by the platforms extends far beyond the digital space.
"Just 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 and, instead, migrate to the internet as a whole and, perhaps most concerning, to the real world and create a common, societal burden on and harm to the affected children and their families and schools, as well as hospitals and law enforcement," the judge wrote.
Meta, which owns and operates Instagram, Facebook, WhatsApp, and Threads, expressed strong disagreement with the decision. "We disagree with the ruling and will appeal," a spokesperson for the company stated. "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." Meta had previously announced similar plans to appeal the initial $375 million verdict.
The legal battle began with a 2023 lawsuit brought by attorneys for the State of New Mexico, who argued that Meta should be held liable for exposing children to sexually explicit material and contact with sexual predators. During the first phase of the trial, Meta was found to have repeatedly violated New Mexico's Unfair Practices Act. The court determined that Meta's recommendation algorithms—the automated tools used to curate user feeds—actively steered young users toward harmful content and dangerous contacts.
In this second phase of the trial, Judge Biedscheid ruled that these systemic issues reached the level of a "public nuisance," marking the first time a social media firm has been legally designated as such. The court-ordered mitigation fund will dedicate $420 million toward clinical and behavioral health programs and professionals to treat the psychological damage already caused by Meta's platforms.
In addition to the financial penalties, the judge ordered Meta to implement strict operational changes for underage users, including:
Preventing accounts of users under 18 from being recommended to adults.Banning adults from messaging underage users.Prohibiting underage users from sending or receiving nudity.Enacting a "1-strike policy for adult users who engage in child sexual exploitation."Eliminating public "like" counts for users under 18.Banning push notifications for underage users between 10:00 PM and 7:00 AM daily, and between 8:00 AM and 3:00 PM on weekdays during the school year.Implementing a mandatory monthly usage limit of 90 cumulative hours across Facebook and Instagram for users under 18, averaging roughly three hours per day.While the New Mexico case represents the first time a state has successfully sued Meta over child safety, the company and CEO Mark Zuckerberg face an escalating wave of litigation. Meta is currently defending itself against thousands of similar lawsuits across the United States, including a case in Los Angeles that Meta lost earlier this year. Furthermore, another major trial is scheduled to begin next week in California, where attorneys general from nearly three dozen states are suing Meta for allegedly violating child privacy laws.
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Md. Kazi Bijoy is a dedicated tech enthusiast and content creator with a passion for digital innovation. With years of experience in the tech industry, he specializes in breaking down complex topics into easy-to-understand guides. When he isn’t writing, he explores the latest gadgets and researches emerging trends in the digital world.