Meta New Mexico fine hits $942 million, forcing new teen limits
A New Mexico court has handed Meta one of the steepest child-safety penalties any social media company has faced in the United States, ordering the tech giant to pay an additional $567 million over harms tied to its platforms’ effects on children’s mental health. The ruling, issued Thursday, pushes the total Meta New Mexico fine to nearly a billion dollars and comes with a list of operational changes the company must make to how Facebook and Instagram function for young users in the state.
Key takeaways
- A New Mexico court ordered Meta to pay $567 million into an abatement fund, on top of a $375 million fine issued in March, bringing the total to $942 million.
- Judge Bryan Biedscheid said roughly $420 million of the new fine will go toward treatment services for young people in New Mexico, with the rest funding prevention, screening and awareness efforts over the next five years.
- Meta must restrict Like counts for users under 18 unless a parent or guardian approves, pause push notifications to minors between 10 p.m. and 7 a.m., and cap their usage at 90 hours a month, roughly three hours a day.
- Meta says it will appeal, while New Mexico Attorney General Raúl Torrez says the company chose “engagement and profit” over children’s safety.
- The ruling follows a separate loss for Meta in Los Angeles in March and sits alongside a joint 33-state lawsuit and individual cases from states including Tennessee.
New Mexico Court Imposes Additional $567 Million Fine on Meta
The order stems from the second phase of a landmark trial Meta already lost once. In March, a jury found the company knowingly harmed children’s mental health and concealed what it knew about child sexual exploitation occurring on its platforms, hitting Meta with the maximum penalty available at the time: $375 million. Thursday’s ruling builds directly on that verdict, adding $567 million and bringing what Meta now owes New Mexico to $942 million.
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