ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. – A New Mexico judge has ordered Meta Platforms Inc. to pay a combined $942 million and make sweeping changes to Facebook and Instagram aimed at protecting children and teenagers in the state.
Chief District Judge Bryan Biedscheid entered the final judgment Aug. 6 in a lawsuit brought by New Mexico Attorney General Raúl Torrez. The ruling follows a two-part trial examining allegations that Meta’s platforms contributed to youth mental-health harms and child sexual exploitation.
Earlier this year, a jury found Meta committed 75,000 willful violations of the New Mexico Unfair Practices Act and imposed $375 million in civil penalties. Biedscheid subsequently ruled that Meta’s conduct constituted a public nuisance and ordered an additional $567 million for a five-year abatement program.
The $567 million is expected to support prevention, screening, treatment and other programs addressing youth mental-health harms. Of that amount, $420 million is designated for treatment and $90 million for screening and assessment.
Torrez told the Cibola Citizen that his office’s responsibility is to secure the money through the litigation, while decisions about how the funds ultimately will be administered and spent will involve the state’s executive and legislative branches.
The order also requires Meta to strengthen protections for minors in New Mexico, including age-assurance measures, tighter restrictions on contact between adults and minors, protections against sextortion, limits on overnight notifications and a cumulative 90-hour monthly usage limit for minors across Facebook and Instagram.
The court stopped short of directly regulating Meta’s algorithms or requiring universal identification-based age verification.
Torrez said he plans to seek legislation requiring stronger age verification and broader updates to New Mexico’s consumer-protection laws.
Meta has said it intends to appeal the ruling. The judgment is a state districtcourt decision and could still be narrowed or overturned during appellate review.