Meta Platforms Ordered to Pay $567M in Landmark New Mexico Youth Harm Case

Meta Platforms Inc. has been ordered to pay $567 million to the state of New Mexico and implement measures to protect minors after a state court judge ruled in favour of the state’s attorney general in a landmark youth safety case.

Judge Bryan Biedscheid’s ruling, which compared Meta to a polluting factory, requires the parent company of Facebook and Instagram to fund programmes aimed at addressing social media-related harms among young users in New Mexico over a five-year period.

The decision concludes the final phase of a trial that had already resulted in a $375 million civil jury verdict against Meta in March for consumer protection violations, taking the company’s total financial exposure in the case to more than $900 million.

The social media giant is facing similar lawsuits across the US from state attorneys general and school districts over alleged harms linked to its platforms. It is also defending thousands of personal injury claims filed by teenage users in state and federal courts.

The latest order requires Meta to introduce several platform changes, including time limits for underage users, disabling push notifications for minors during night hours, and creating banner screens to educate users about teen safety and online security.

The ruling appears to be the first time a court has found a social media company responsible for creating a “public nuisance” with a broad negative impact on society. It supports a legal argument being pursued by other state attorneys general and school districts that social media addiction contributes to a wider mental health crisis affecting communities beyond online platforms.

Meta spokesperson Andy Stone said the company disagreed with the ruling and would appeal. “We remain confident in our record of protecting teens online and will continue to defend ourselves against claims that misrepresent the facts,” Stone said in a social media post.

The lawsuit, filed by New Mexico Attorney General Raúl Torrez, alleged that Meta misled teenagers and parents about mental health risks and sexual exploitation concerns linked to its platforms while prioritising user growth and engagement.

Torrez welcomed the ruling, describing the judgment as “a blueprint” for other states to follow.

“For the first time, a court has ruled that a social media giant can be held liable for building products that endanger children and has ordered the structural changes needed to fix it,” he said.

In his ruling, Judge Biedscheid compared Meta’s platforms to a factory, describing the psychological harm and exploitation of children as the “pollution that must be abated”.

“Just as noxious pollution produced by the factory can harm the common public right to reasonably clean air, the harmful effects of Meta’s platforms on children do not stay contained by its platforms,” the judge wrote.

Meta’s legal challenges are expected to continue. The company is preparing to defend a similar lawsuit brought by a coalition of dozens of state attorneys general, led by California, in a federal court in Oakland, with the trial scheduled to begin later this month. Meta is also currently facing a similar addiction-related case in Tennessee state court brought by the state’s attorney general.

The case is State of New Mexico v. Meta Platforms Inc., N.M. Dist. Ct., No. D-101-CV-2023-02838, August 6, 2026.

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