New Mexico court orders Meta to pay $942 million total over child safety failures
A judge found Meta's platforms created a 'public nuisance' for young users and ordered sweeping changes, including nighttime notification blackouts and a monthly screen-time cap for under-18s.
Key points
- A New Mexico judge ordered Meta to pay an additional $567 million fine on top of the $375 million levied in March 2025, bringing the total to $942 million.
- The court ruled Meta's platforms caused a "public nuisance" by exposing children to sexual exploitation, mental health harm and disrupted schooling.
- Meta must hide Like counts for users under 18 and pause push notifications for minors between 10 p.m. And 7 a.m.
- Teen users face a new 90-hour monthly cap on platform use, roughly three hours per day.
- Meta says it will appeal.
A New Mexico court has ordered Meta to pay $942 million in fines over the harm its platforms caused to children in the state. Thursday's $567 million penalty sits on top of the $375 million the same court issued in March 2025.
What did the court actually find?
The judge ruled that Meta caused a "public nuisance" in New Mexico, meaning widespread harm the company is legally required to fix. "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 Meta isn't the only platform involved but found its role large enough to hold it solely accountable here.
The ruling connects to a pattern AI2Day has been tracking: our 5 August story found Meta approved and ran ads containing AI-generated child sexual abuse material for nine months, with some reaching thousands of accounts before researchers intervened.
What changes will Meta have to make?
Beyond the fines, the court demands concrete platform changes for anyone under 18. Like counts, the running tallies of hearts and thumbs-up that research ties to anxiety and social comparison in teenagers, must be hidden from young users unless a parent or guardian approves them.
Push notifications must stop between 10 p.m. And 7 a.m. For minors. Total monthly use is capped at 90 hours. For parents, those limits are worth knowing even where courts elsewhere don't yet enforce them: both Android and iOS already let families set comparable boundaries voluntarily.
What happens next?
Meta will appeal. Spokesperson Andy Stone said the company "works hard to keep people safe" and called the claims a misrepresentation of its record. Appeals in cases like this can run for years, so the fines and changes may not take effect quickly.
This case isn't isolated. A joint lawsuit by 33 US states sits in a federal court in Oakland, California, and Tennessee among others has filed its own action. A Los Angeles court also ruled against Meta in March over addictive design patterns, first reported by TechCrunch. European regulators have been pushing on the same design questions: we covered the EU's demand that Meta kill infinite scroll and autoplay or face billion-dollar fines in our 13 July story.
| Event | Amount / detail | Date |
|---|---|---|
| First New Mexico fine | $375 million | March 2025 |
| Second New Mexico fine | $567 million | July 2025 |
| Combined New Mexico total | $942 million | 2025 |
| States in joint Oakland lawsuit | 33 states | Ongoing |
New Mexico Attorney General Raul Torrez said Meta chose "engagement and profit over their safety" for years. Meta disagrees and will keep defending itself. Whether the behavioral changes the court demands actually reduce harm is a harder question: as a psychologist who has studied teen mental health for 25 years argued on AI2Day in July, platform restrictions alone aren't the whole answer.
Common questions
Does this ruling affect how Facebook and Instagram work right now?
Not yet. Meta plans to appeal, which means the changes and fines go through a review process that typically takes months to years before anything is enforced.
Can parents set these same limits today without waiting for a court?
Yes. Both Android and iOS include built-in screen-time controls that let parents cap daily app use and block notifications overnight, without needing any change from Meta.
