New Mexico Judge Orders Meta to Pay $942 Million over Child Safety Harms

A New Mexico judge ordered Meta Platforms to pay more than $900 million and restrict how much time young users in the state can spend on its apps, sharply raising the cost of a landmark child safety verdict against Mark Zuckerberg’s social media giant.

The Wall Street Journal reports that Judge Bryan Biedscheid ruled Thursday that Meta must create a new $567 million abatement fund on top of $375 million in civil penalties a jury had previously ordered, bringing the total to $942 million. The company must also add safety features, including limits on how much time underage users in New Mexico can spend on Facebook and Instagram, hiding the number of “likes” on photos by default for those users, and disclosing to them the risks associated with its platforms.

Biedscheid said the abatement fund, intended to address harms caused by Meta’s social-media apps, was “necessary, due to the wide-ranging impacts of the harm and the complex nature of the remedy.” The amount is slightly below the $779.5 million that state attorneys had requested.

In a statement to Breitbart News, a Meta spokesperson wrote: “We disagree with the ruling and will appeal. We work hard to keep people safe on our platforms and have been transparent about the challenges of identifying and removing bad actors and harmful content. We remain confident in our record of protecting teens online and will continue to defend ourselves against claims that misrepresent the facts.”
Breitbart News previously reported on the trial, which reached a verdict against Meta in March:

The case was brought by New Mexico Attorney General Raúl Torrez (D), who filed suit against Meta in 2023 after conducting an undercover investigation. The operation involved creating fake social media profile of a 13-year-old girl, which Torrez said was immediately flooded with inappropriate images and targeted solicitations from child abusers.

The civil trial centered on allegations that Meta violated state consumer protection laws and misled New Mexico residents about the safety of its platforms. During closing statements, Linda Singer, an attorney representing New Mexico, urged jurors to impose a civil penalty that could exceed $2 billion. The jury ultimately determined that Meta should pay $375 million based on the number of violations found.

Meta faces thousands of lawsuits from state attorneys general, school districts and individual plaintiffs alleging the company prioritized growth over the safety of its underage users. The New Mexico case was the first to test whether social-media companies can be held legally responsible for content on their platforms.

Another trial, brought by four state attorneys general, is set to begin jury selection in Oakland, California, next week. Meta has said in a court filing that the states in that case are seeking more than $1 trillion in damages.

Read more at the Wall Street Journal here.

Lucas Nolan is a reporter for Breitbart News covering issues of AI, free speech, and online censorship.