A judge in the US state of New Mexico has ordered Meta to pay an additional $567 million for failing to adequately protect children from harmful content on its platforms, bringing the company’s total financial penalty in the case to $942 million.
Judge Bryan Biedscheid ruled that Meta’s platforms constitute a “public nuisance”, comparing the company to a factory whose “pollution” is the psychological harm and sexual exploitation of children. He ordered the company to establish a fund to address and reduce the long-term impact of those harms.
The ruling follows an earlier order requiring Meta to pay $375 million, making it the largest financial penalty imposed on the company over child safety concerns.
The case stems from a lawsuit filed by the State of New Mexico in 2023, alleging that Meta’s platforms exposed children to sexually explicit content and contact with sexual predators. In the first phase of the trial, the court found that Meta’s recommendation algorithms repeatedly directed young users towards harmful content, violating New Mexico’s Unfair Practices Act.
As part of the latest ruling, the court also ordered Meta to implement a series of child safety measures, including:
- Preventing adult users from messaging minors or being recommended to them.
- Banning the sending and receiving of nude images by users under 18.
- Introducing a one-strike policy for adults involved in child sexual exploitation.
- Removing public “like” counts for users under 18.
- Disabling push notifications for minors between 10.00 p.m. and 7.00 a.m., and during school hours on weekdays.
- Introducing a mandatory monthly usage limit of 90 hours across Instagram and Facebook for users under 18.
Meta said it disagrees with the ruling and intends to appeal, stating that it has invested heavily in protecting young users and believes the court’s findings misrepresent its efforts.
The company is also facing thousands of similar lawsuits across the United States, with another major child privacy case due to begin in California next week.
