Meta is facing a $942 million judgment in New Mexico after a state court found that its platforms contributed to harms affecting children.
Ordering Meta to make changes to how Facebook and Instagram operate for users under 18, the judgment also combines a $375 million civil penalty imposed by a jury in March with another $567 million ordered by one Judge Bryan Biedscheid in August.
The court treated the design and operation of Meta’s products as part of the child safety question, rejecting Meta’s argument that Section 230 protected it from liability for the products it designed.
The Court Went After The Products Themselves
The first phase of the case ended with a jury finding that Meta violated New Mexico’s Unfair Practices Act 75,000 times by misleading consumers about the safety of its platforms and endangering children. The jury then imposed the maximum $5,000 penalty for each violation, producing the $375 million award.
The second phase focused on what Meta would have to do about the harms identified during the trial. Judge Biedscheid ruled that Meta’s platforms constituted a public nuisance in New Mexico and ordered $567 million toward measures addressing the impact on young people.
The case was not limited to individual posts, messages, or other content created by users. The judgment addressed product features, settings, and practices that determine how young users experience the platforms.
What Meta Has To Change
For five years, Meta must comply with court-supervised measures affecting users under 18 in New Mexico.
The measures include mandatory usage limits, with minors restricted to 90 hours a month on Facebook and Instagram, restricting overnight push notifications, hide public like counts for minors by default, and strengthen protections against sextortion and child sexual exploitation. The company must also introduce stronger privacy protections, controls around nude images and restrictions on certain interactions between minors and its AI chatbots.
One of the most technically significant requirements concerns how Meta identifies children under 13. The court ordered Meta to continue improving its age-assurance systems and use artificial intelligence (AI) to strengthen the signals those systems rely on. It also ordered the company to make reasonable best efforts to develop a dedicated machine-learning model capable of predicting whether a user is under 13 within two years.
When Meta’s systems predict that a New Mexico user is under 13, the company must proactively request proof of age and move to delete the account if the user does not verify their age within 30 days, subject to legal hold requirements.
Additionally, Meta must also provide prominent disclosures about risks associated with its platforms, fund a statewide education campaign, and submit regular reports showing its compliance with the court’s requirements.
Why Other Platforms Should Pay Attention
The New Mexico judgment arrives as Meta faces another major child safety trial brought by 29 states in California. That case also examines whether Meta’s product decisions and business practices harmed young users.
Meta says it disagrees with the New Mexico ruling and plans to appeal, while maintaining that it works to protect people on its platforms.
For social platforms, the New Mexico case offers a clear warning about where scrutiny is heading, especially when it comes to child safety and how governments and courts examine how technology companies build products used by children.
