A New Mexico court has ordered Meta to pay an additional $567 million toward programs addressing alleged harms to young people from Facebook and Instagram, significantly expanding the consequences of a landmark child-safety case against the technology company.
The latest order follows a March jury verdict that imposed $375 million in civil penalties after jurors found Meta liable under New Mexico law. Combined, the two phases leave the Facebook and Instagram parent company facing approximately $942 million in penalties and court-ordered funding, although Meta says it disagrees with the rulings and intends to appeal.
Chief Judge Bryan Biedscheid ordered that $420 million of the new $567 million fund be directed toward treatment services for young people in New Mexico. The remaining money is expected to support prevention efforts, public awareness, screening programs and other measures over a five-year period.
The case began after New Mexico Attorney General Raúl Torrez sued Meta in 2023, alleging that Facebook and Instagram exposed children to harmful platform features and failed to adequately address risks involving sexual exploitation and inappropriate contact with minors.
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Those were allegations when the lawsuit was filed. In March 2026, however, a jury sided with the state on key claims and imposed the earlier $375 million penalty. Meta has disputed the state’s characterization of its platforms and maintains that it has invested heavily in protections for teenagers and younger users.
Thursday’s ruling goes beyond financial penalties.
The court ordered Meta to introduce additional informational screens and banners on Facebook and Instagram explaining available safety protections, recommended practices and tools for dealing with inappropriate interactions.
Meta will also be required to continue improving systems designed to estimate whether users are minors.
Among those measures are age-assurance systems that can use account signals to estimate a user’s age. The company was ordered to work toward a dedicated model capable of identifying users believed to be younger than 13 and, in certain circumstances, request proof of age.
Accounts determined to belong to children under 13 would be subject to additional restrictions, and the order requires Meta to delete personal information collected from underage users where applicable.
The court additionally directed Meta to establish a reporting system that would allow participating schools or child-safety organizations to flag accounts suspected of belonging to children under 13.
Meta must provide regular reports detailing its progress in complying with the court-ordered measures.
Not every remedy requested by New Mexico was approved. The court rejected or limited some proposals after considering federal privacy requirements, constitutional issues and whether certain measures could reasonably be imposed on Meta alone.
That distinction is significant because the case does not amount to a blanket judicial declaration that all social media use causes mental-health harm. Instead, it concerns specific findings about Meta’s practices, platform design and representations under New Mexico law.
Meta has said it plans to appeal.
The company maintains that it works to protect young users and argues that claims made during the litigation misrepresent its safety efforts and the challenges involved in identifying and removing harmful behavior.
The New Mexico case could nevertheless become important well beyond the state.
Meta is facing other lawsuits involving allegations about social media’s effects on young users, and governments around the country are increasingly examining features designed to maximize engagement, age-verification systems and protections against unwanted adult contact.
What makes the New Mexico ruling particularly notable is that the remedy reaches beyond a conventional corporate fine. The court is attempting to connect financial compensation with changes to how the products themselves operate for younger users.
That could become a model tested in future cases. If other courts adopt similar approaches, technology companies could increasingly face demands not only to pay damages after losing litigation but also to redesign specific features or strengthen safeguards for minors.
At the same time, Meta’s planned appeal means the final scope of the ruling is not settled. An appellate court could uphold, modify or overturn parts of the judgment, and some of the required changes may therefore remain subject to further litigation.
Why It Matters
The case could have consequences for parents and young social-media users far beyond the size of the financial award.
New Mexico’s approach focuses on platform design, age assurance, child-safety information and access to treatment rather than relying entirely on financial penalties. If the ruling survives appeal, it could give other states a potential legal roadmap for seeking similar remedies against major social-media companies.
For Meta, the immediate financial total is substantial at $942 million, but the longer-term issue may be whether courts can force major changes to how Facebook and Instagram operate for minors.
What Comes Next
Meta says it will appeal, meaning the $567 million order and some of the required platform changes could face additional judicial review.
In the meantime, attention will turn to Meta’s compliance with the five-year measures, including age-assurance improvements, safeguards for younger users and regular progress reports.
Other lawsuits involving alleged harms to minors are also moving through U.S. courts, making the New Mexico case an important test of how far states can go in using consumer-protection and public-nuisance laws to regulate social-media platforms.
A New Mexico court ordered Meta to pay $567 million toward measures addressing harms involving young users on its platforms.
A New Mexico state court ordered Meta to pay $567 million and change how its platforms function for young users in the state after finding the company is to blame for harming children’s mental health https://t.co/UTNjHjLnu3
— Reuters (@Reuters) August 7, 2026
