Meta ordered to pay $567 mn over child safety failures in New Mexico

MUMBAI: The social media scroll has hit a legal roadblock. In a landmark ruling that could reshape how platforms protect young users, a New Mexico court has held Meta responsible for harming children’s mental health, pairing a hefty financial penalty with sweeping changes to how Facebook and Instagram operate.

A New Mexico state court has ordered Meta to pay $567 million and implement a broad set of youth safety measures after concluding that the company created a public nuisance by designing its platforms in ways that encouraged excessive use among children and failed to adequately protect them from sexual exploitation.

Judge Bryan Biedscheid of the Santa Fe district court ruled in favour of Attorney General Raúl Torrez, whose office argued that Meta’s products contributed to mental health harms and exposed young users to online risks.

The court directed Meta to introduce the new safeguards across Facebook and Instagram for the next five years. The measures include monthly usage limits for teenagers, restrictions on notifications, tighter controls governing interactions between adults and minors, enhanced safeguards for AI chatbots and stronger oversight of reports related to child sexual abuse.

Meta said it would appeal the ruling. The company maintained that it has continued to identify and remove harmful content from its platforms and remains confident in its efforts to protect teenagers online. It also argued that the court’s findings were based on claims that misrepresented the facts.

The latest judgment follows an earlier phase of the case. In March, a jury found that Meta had violated New Mexico’s consumer protection law by misrepresenting the safety of Facebook and Instagram for younger users, awarding the state $375 million in damages.

The second phase, heard without a jury over three weeks of testimony, focused on whether Meta’s platforms constituted a public nuisance under state law. Judge Biedscheid ultimately ruled that they did, paving the way for the additional $567 million penalty and court-ordered operational changes.

The decision is expected to resonate well beyond New Mexico. It adds momentum to a growing wave of lawsuits filed by US states, municipalities and school districts seeking to hold social media companies accountable for the impact of their platforms on children’s mental health and online safety. As regulators and courts tighten their scrutiny, the judgment could become a significant legal benchmark in the debate over how far technology companies should be held responsible for protecting young users.