SANTA FE, New Mexico: A landmark court ruling has put one of the world’s biggest social media companies under fresh pressure as Meta faces a $567 million penalty and mandatory changes to protect young users.
A New Mexico judge ruled on Thursday that Meta’s platforms contributed to harm affecting children’s wellbeing, ordering the company to strengthen safety measures on Facebook and Instagram.
Judge Bryan Biedscheid of the New Mexico state court found that Meta created a public nuisance by failing to adequately protect children from risks linked to its platforms.
The decision came in a case brought by New Mexico Attorney General Raúl Torrez, who accused the company of designing features that encouraged addictive use among teenagers and exposed minors to harmful content.
Under the five-year court order, Meta must introduce several youth protection measures, including limits on teenagers’ usage, reduced notifications, stricter controls on adult interactions with minors, improved safeguards for artificial intelligence chatbots and stronger reviews of child sexual abuse reports.
Read More: Meta AI model breaches company systems during cybersecurity testing
The ruling follows an earlier jury decision in the same case, which ordered Meta to pay $375 million after finding that the company violated consumer protection laws by misrepresenting the safety of Facebook and Instagram for young users.
The case is part of a wider legal battle against social media platforms in the United States, with more than 40 states and over 1,300 school districts pursuing lawsuits over alleged harm to children’s mental health and online safety.
In his ruling, Judge Biedscheid said the impact of harmful online experiences extends beyond social media platforms, affecting children, families, schools and wider communities.
Meta rejected the court’s findings and announced plans to appeal the decision, saying it has taken significant steps to improve online safety and remove 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 said.
Torrez welcomed the ruling, saying it sends a strong message to technology companies that child safety must come before profits.
“This is not just a judgment against one company. It is a blueprint,” Torrez said, adding that other states and countries could use the decision as a reference while addressing similar concerns.
The court also ordered Meta to prevent minors in New Mexico from engaging in sexualised interactions with its artificial intelligence chatbots and to stop adults from using such tools for inappropriate conversations involving children.
However, the judge declined to impose some restrictions requested by the state, including changes to Meta’s algorithms and features such as infinite scroll and autoplay, citing concerns related to constitutional protections and federal law.
The ruling comes as Meta faces additional legal challenges, including a separate lawsuit involving multiple US states that accuse the company of designing Facebook and Instagram features to increase dependence among young users.
The company has warned investors that growing legal and regulatory pressure over youth safety issues could affect its future business operations and financial performance.
