Staff Reports
SANTA FE — A Santa Fe judge ordered Meta to pay $567 million, and make changes for the user experience of juvenile accounts Aug. 6 after finding its platforms helped create a public nuisance harming teens.
Chief District Court Judge Bryan Biedscheid’s ruling follows a two-phase trial in the state’s case, which New Mexico Attorney General Raúl Torrez brought to the court.
The $567 million figure is on top of $375 million in civil penalties from a jury verdict in Phase 1 of the trial, which found Meta committed 75,000 violations of the New Mexico Unfair Practices Act.
“This case has always been about protecting children, standing up for families, and making sure that one of the world’s largest technology companies cannot profit from practices that endanger young people without consequence,” Torrez said in a press release. “Today’s decision is a victory for every parent who has worried about what social media is doing to their child and every child who deserves to grow up safer online.”
On Aug. 5, Biedscheid wrote that New Mexico is in a youth mental health crisis and that Meta’s platforms are “a significant contributing cause to the crisis.”
The order said the $567 million fund will support awareness and prevention, screening and assessment, referral and coordination, treatment and evaluation over a five-year period
The largest share, $420 million, goes to treatment. The order said Meta must also file written progress reports with the court and the state by June 30 and Dec. 31 each year during that period.
MANDATED CHANGES FOR META
The court ordered Meta to keep and expand youth safety measures on Facebook and Instagram in New Mexico. The order noted WhatsApp doesn’t contribute to the nuisance, so the relief doesN’Tt apply to that platform.
The judge ordered Meta to keep private-by-default settings for users under 18 on Instagram and to limit Facebook friends by default to other users under 18 for those teen accounts.
The order also says Meta can’t recommend accounts belonging to users under 18 to adults, and unconnected adults cannot message users under 18.
On age checks, the judge said federal children’s privacy law limits what the court can require. Even so, the order said Meta must keep improving age-assurance tools, seek proof of age for some suspected under-13 users and delete accounts for users under 13 who don’t verify within 30 days.
The ruling also said Meta must make it easier to report underage accounts and create an appeal process for people who say the company guessed their age wrong.
MORE CHANGES MANDATED FOR UNDERAGE USERS
The court ordered Meta to eliminate push notifications for known or estimated users under 18 from 10:00 pm to 7:00 am every day and from 8:00 am to 3:00 pm during the school year, with limited exceptions.
The order also says Meta must hide “like counts” by default for users under 18 unless a parent or guardian approves a change.
The judge further ordered a mandatory usage cap for users under 18 of no more than 90 hours per month across Facebook and Instagram.
The ruling requires Meta to display regular banner screens linking users to safety and transparency materials and to fund an education campaign in New Mexico about platform risks, safety tools, parental controls and reporting options.
The court denied the state’s request for a child safety monitor, but said the state can seek more relief or penalties if Meta doesn’t meet the decree’s requirements.
