Judge orders Meta to pay $567 million, add child safeguards
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A New Mexico judge orders Meta to pay $567 million and implement new child safety measures on Facebook and Instagram, ruling Thursday that the platforms’ psychological harm to minors constitutes pollution. Meta says it will appeal the decision, even as child safety advocates hope other courts will follow the precedent.
The Ruling
Judge Bryan Biedscheid of New Mexico’s First Judicial District fined Meta $567 million on Thursday, adding to a $375 million civil penalty levied by a jury in March for knowingly harming children’s mental health and concealing child exploitation. Biedscheid likened Meta’s platforms to factories, describing psychological harm as their pollution. The order marks a novel legal approach that could influence other state lawsuits against social media companies.
Safety Measures Ordered
The court mandated a 90-hour monthly time limit for users under 18, restrictions on AI chatbot interactions, and warnings about mental health risks on Facebook and Instagram. Meta must also improve age-verification tools and proactively request proof of age for users estimated to be under 13. These measures apply only within New Mexico and have no enforcement deadline.
Implementation Hurdles
Age verification remains a central obstacle, as federal COPPA law bars Meta from requiring personal data from children under 13. Law professor Peter Ormerod noted that age checks can be done in a privacy-protective way, but are not easy. Identifying New Mexico-based users via IP addresses offers a partial solution, but the order’s geographic limitation and Meta’s planned appeal further complicate enforcement.
What's Next
Meta has no deadline to introduce the measures and plans to appeal the ruling, leaving the timeline uncertain. It remains unclear whether other courts will adopt the factory-pollution analogy to compel platforms to implement child protection safeguards.
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Judge orders Meta to pay $567 million, add child safeguards
