New Mexico Court Orders Meta to Overhaul Facebook, Pay $567 Million to Teen Mental Health Fund

A New Mexico court has ordered Meta to overhaul how Facebook and Instagram operate for young users in the state. In a ruling delivered by Judge Bryan Biedscheid on August 8, the court said the social media giant created “public nuisance” that contributed to psychological harm in children.

“The court considers Meta’s platforms to be analogous to the factory. The advertising and other content displayed on those platforms to be what is produced by the factory, and the psychological harm to and sexual exploitation of children to be the pollution that must be abated,” Judge Biedscheid wrote in the ruling as per Reuters.

What Does the Meta Ruling Entail?

The New Mexico court ordered Meta to pay a total of $567 million into a mental health fund to support treatment of young people. A quarter of this amount will be spent on prevention programs and screening services.

The court also ordered Meta to change key design features in Instagram and Facebook, including limiting monthly teen usage of the platforms. Meta should also tighten notification controls, strengthen safeguards on AI chatbots, and adult contact with minors. The company should also enhance the process of handling child sexual abuse reports.

Additionally, social media should work with schools to establish a reporting system for identifying underage users. The court also ruled that Meta must delete any data it holds on under-13 users. Meta must continue to improve its age-verification tools since federal privacy law prevents it from collecting personal data to verify under-age users.

New Mexico Attorney General Raul Torrez filed a lawsuit against Meta platforms WhatsApp, Facebook, and Instagram in 2023. He termed the ruling a “victory for every parent who has worried about what social media is doing to their child.”

How Did Meta’s Child Safety Case Unfold?

The Meta child safety ruling concludes the sexual exploitation trial that began in February. In March, a jury ruled that Meta failed to disclose the potential harm posed by Facebook and Instagram to teenagers.

The second phase shifted to Judge Bryan Biedscheid, who considered whether the platforms' design amounted to a public nuisance under state law. In March, jurors found Meta responsible for 75,000 violations of the consumer protection statute and assessed a $375 million penalty.

With the latest ruling, Meta now faces financial penalties exceeding $940 million in New Mexico. Meta plans to appeal the latest verdict.

"We work hard to keep people safe on our platforms and have been transparent about the challenges of identifying and removing bad actors and 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.

Impact of Meta’s Ruling on Future Child Safety Cases

Meta's appeal will likely keep the child safety case in the spotlight. However, the New Mexico ruling could influence how other states and regulators pursue child safety cases against social media platforms. If the decision withstands further legal scrutiny, it may set an important precedent for requiring platforms to redesign features that harm young users.