New Mexico court orders Meta to pay additional $567M in child safety case

A New Mexico Court judge on Thursday ordered Meta to pay a fine of $567 million, on top of the $375 million levied in March, in a case regarding social media harms and addiction. This brings the total fines the company has to pay to $942 million.

The court also ordered Meta to make changes to how its platforms function in the state: it wants the company to remove Like counts, and only show such metrics to children under 18 with approval from a parent or a guardian. Push notifications to underaged users in the state are also to be paused between 10 p.m. and 7 a.m, and their usage should be limited to 90 hours a month, which amounts to roughly three hours per day.

“Significant numbers of people in New Mexico experience harm from Meta’s products due to risks of sexual exploitation, interference with education, and adverse mental health outcomes,” the order said.

The judge acknowledged that Meta is not the only platform causing a mental health crisis among youth in the state, but maintained that its platforms play a significant part. He said that the company has caused a significant “public nuisance” in New Mexcio, and is required to abate that.

Meta said that it is going to appeal the judgment.

“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,” company spokesperson Andy Stone said in an emailed statement.

“For years, Meta knew its platforms were harming New Mexico’s kids, from feeding a youth mental health crisis to connecting predators with children, and it chose engagement and profit over their safety,” state Attorney General Raul Torrez said in a statement.

“Today, Meta is paying for that choice. This judgment holds the company accountable for the damage it caused to our children, our families, and our schools, and it forces real changes to how Meta operates in New Mexico,” he added.

The ruling comes in the wake of another loss in Los Angeles in March, where the court also ruled against the social media company for creating addictive patterns.

Meta is facing several other cases in the country. One of the notable cases is a joint lawsuit by 33 states, which was consolidated in an Oakland, California federal court. Several other states, like Tennessee, have brought their own cases against the company.