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Meta has been ordered to deposit $567 million into a New Mexico fund after a judge found that Facebook and Instagram substantially contributed to a public nuisance involving youth mental health and child sexual exploitation.
The latest decision concluded the second phase of a lawsuit filed in 2023 by New Mexico Attorney General Raúl Torrez. A jury previously imposed $375 million in civil penalties after finding 75,000 violations of the state’s Unfair Practices Act. Meta’s total court-ordered financial liability in the case now stands at $942 million.
Meta Compared to a Factory
In his 68-page judgment (PDF), Judge Bryan Biedscheid compared Meta’s platforms to a factory, advertising and other content to its products, and psychological harm and child sexual exploitation to pollution requiring action.
The court found that the effects were not confined to Facebook and Instagram. They affected children, families, schools, hospitals, and law enforcement agencies throughout New Mexico.
Facebook and Instagram use algorithms to recommend content and possible connections. According to the judgment, communication risks were principally created by these recommendations, while connections between adults and adolescents contributed to grooming, sextortion, and other exploitative conduct.
The judge found Meta’s platforms were a significant contributing cause of New Mexico’s youth mental health crisis. However, he declined to order direct changes to the design of its recommendation algorithms, citing legal and practical limits.
Of the new $567 million fund, $420 million is allocated to treatment for young people. The remaining money is divided over five years among awareness and prevention, screening and assessment, referrals and coordination, and program implementation and evaluation.
New Rules for Young Users
Beyond the payment, Meta must apply new safeguards to relevant Facebook and Instagram accounts in New Mexico during a five-year compliance period.
Accounts belonging to users under 18 cannot be recommended to unconnected adults, while unconnected adults cannot message them. Instagram accounts must remain private by default, and Facebook must limit minors’ default friend connections to other users under 18.
Push notifications must be disabled from 10 pm to 7 am every day and from 8 am to 3 pm during the academic year, excluding weekends. Exceptions are permitted for messages from connected users and urgent safety alerts.
Teenagers will be limited to 90 hours of combined Facebook and Instagram use per month. Meta must also hide like counts by default for users under 18 unless a parent or guardian approves a change.
The order requires Meta to improve its age-assurance tools and attempt to develop a model for identifying users under 13 within two years. Accounts predicted to belong to children under 13 must be asked for proof of age and listed for deletion if verification is not provided within 30 days.
Meta must also delete accounts and personal information belonging to confirmed under-13 users, establish an appeal process for incorrect age estimates, and partner with schools or a child-safety organization to create a reporting portal for suspected underage accounts.
Meta Plans to Appeal
“We disagree with the ruling and will appeal,” Meta said. The company maintains that it works to protect users and remove harmful content and accounts from its platforms.
Meta is defending thousands of claims filed by individuals and school districts, while more than 40 state attorneys general have brought related actions. A trial in Tennessee is underway, and another federal trial involving state claims is scheduled to begin in California.
Commenting on the decision, Pieter Arntz, senior intelligence researcher at Malwarebytes, said its effects extend beyond the financial order.
“The ruling goes beyond imposing a financial penalty,” Arntz told Hackread.com. He said the age-assurance requirements, deletion of underage users’ data, school reporting system, and twice-yearly compliance reports place continuing product and operational duties on Meta in New Mexico.
