Key Facts
- New Mexico state level: The court ordered Meta to deposit $567 million into a five-year public-nuisance abatement fund.
- New Mexico state level: The fund is separate from $375 million in civil penalties assessed after the jury found 75,000 state consumer-law violations.
- New Mexico state level: The judgment requires safeguards for New Mexico minors using Facebook and Instagram.
- Procedural status: Meta disputes the judgment and told the Associated Press that it intends to appeal.
A New Mexico judge ordered Meta Platforms to fund $567 million in youth services and adopt safeguards for minors using Facebook and Instagram. The final trial-court judgment matters because it combines substantial funding with changes to how the platforms operate for young New Mexico users.
Chief District Judge Bryan Biedscheid entered the judgment on August 6 after separate jury and bench phases.
How the $567 million fund would work
The court found that Meta caused and substantially contributed to a statutory and common-law public nuisance in New Mexico. It ordered the company to deposit $567 million into an abatement fund intended to reduce the nuisance’s effects over five years.
The judgment allocates $420 million for treatment and $90 million for screening and assessment. It also assigns $33 million to awareness and prevention, $15 million to referrals and coordination, and $9 million to implementation and evaluation.
The fund is distinct from the jury’s earlier $375 million civil-penalty assessment. The jury found 75,000 violations of the New Mexico Unfair Practices Act and assessed $5,000 for each violation.
Together, the two components produce $942 million in trial-court monetary relief. The full amount is not one fine: it combines civil penalties with a judge-ordered equitable abatement fund.
Safeguards ordered for young users
The judgment requires Meta to improve age-assurance methods and apply additional protections to accounts identified as belonging to minors. It also restricts some messages, notifications and sexualized chatbot interactions involving young users.
Like counts must be hidden by default for minors. The order also establishes a cumulative 90-hour monthly limit across Facebook and Instagram for young New Mexico users.
Other provisions require disclosures, educational measures, research access and coordination with law enforcement. Meta must submit compliance reports every six months during the five-year period.
The measures are ordered safeguards, not proof that every change has already been implemented. Fund administration and drawdowns remain subject to later court orders.
The court rejected broader requests
The judgment gave New Mexico less relief than the state requested. The court shortened the proposed 15-year abatement period to five years and reduced the requested funding.
It declined to regulate Meta’s algorithm design directly, citing legal and practical concerns. The court also excluded WhatsApp, declined to prohibit Facebook’s end-to-end encryption and denied a child-safety monitor at this stage.
New Mexico Attorney General Raúl Torrez called the judgment a victory and urged lawmakers to consider further protections. His department also acknowledged that the court stopped short of the state’s requested hard age-verification mandate.
Meta plans an appeal
Meta told the Associated Press that it disagrees with the ruling and that the state’s claims misrepresent the facts. The company defended its work to protect teens and said it intends to appeal.
The judgment is final at the trial-court level, but it has not completed appellate review. The five-year abatement period will be paused during an appeal if Meta posts a supersedeas bond, which secures the judgment while review proceeds.
The August judgment addresses the merits and ordered relief after the New Mexico trials.
