Key takeaways
- A New Mexico judge has ordered Meta to pay an additional $567 million, bringing its total penalty in the state’s child safety case to $942 million.
- The court described Meta as a “public nuisance,” comparing the harms caused by its platforms to environmental pollution.
- The ruling requires Meta to fund child protection programmes and introduce stricter safeguards for users under 18.
- Meta says it will appeal the decision as it continues to battle thousands of similar lawsuits across the US.
A judge in New Mexico on Thursday, August 7th, has ordered Meta (the parent company of Facebook, Instagram, WhatsApp, and Threads) to pay an additional $567 million for failing to protect children from harmful content and online predators on its platforms, according to a BBC report.
Meta previously received a $375 million fine for content that harmed children’s mental health and for concealing its knowledge of child sexual exploitation on its platforms. The latest ruling raises the company’s total penalty in the state’s landmark child safety lawsuit to $942 million.
Judge Bryan Biedscheid ruled that the company had created a “public nuisance” by exposing children to widespread psychological harm and sexual exploitation. In his ruling, he likened Meta’s business to a factory whose products generate harmful pollution, arguing that the impact of its recommendation algorithms extends beyond its platforms into schools, families, healthcare systems, and law enforcement.
According to the judge, a large chunk of the fine (about $420m) would be used to fund “appropriate clinical or other behavioral health programs and professionals,” which includes awareness and prevention, screening services and other costs over the next five years, in a bid to remedy some of the harms that Meta’s platforms have caused.
Meta, however, disagrees with the ruling and would 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,” a Meta spokesperson said. “We remain confident in our record of protecting teens online and will continue to defend ourselves against claims that misrepresent the facts.”
Court orders tougher protections for teenagers
Beyond the fine, the court ordered Meta to implement a series of guardrails to ensure the safety of underage users (under 18). These include preventing adults from messaging minors they do not know, stopping the recommendation of underage accounts to adults, banning nudity shared by minors, and permanently removing users involved in child sexual exploitation after a single violation.
The ruling also requires Meta to remove public like counts for teenage users, disable push notifications overnight and during school hours, and impose a monthly usage limit of 90 hours across Facebook and Instagram for minors.
The company would argue it has already implemented some of these measures. In May 2026, the tech giant Meta unveiled AI-powered age-assurance technology as part of its commitment to promote safer, age-appropriate experiences for young people across all its other platforms. It also mandated that users on Meta platforms must be at least 13 years old.
Victoria Fakiya – Senior Writer
Techpoint Digest
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There’s immense pressure mounting on Meta. The company is already facing thousands of lawsuits across the United States. Next week, the tech giant is expected to face another major trial in California over allegations of violating children’s privacy laws.
Countries have continued the push to hold big tech companies more accountable, urging them to implement stricter age-verification rules to ensure online safety for underage users on social media platforms.
