New Mexico judge orders Meta to pay additional $567 million in child safety case

A federal judge in New Mexico ordered Meta Platforms Inc. to pay an additional $567 million for failing to warn the public about risks its social-media services pose to children. The penalty follows an earlier $375 million judgment, bringing the total liability to $942 million.

Judge Bryan Biedscheid described Meta’s services as a “public nuisance” comparable to air pollution, stating that the company must place the funds in a program aimed at reducing future harms. He likened the firm to a factory whose product—advertising and content—creates psychological damage and sexual exploitation of minors, which he said must be abated.

The ruling stems from a 2023 lawsuit filed by New Mexico attorneys alleging that Meta’s recommendation algorithms steered young users toward harmful material and contact with sexual predators, violating the state’s Unfair Practices Act. Meta has indicated it will appeal the decision.

"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 and, instead, migrate to the internet as a whole and, perhaps most concerning, to the real world and create a common, societal burden on and harm to the affected children and their families and schools, as well as hospitals and law enforcement," the judge wrote.