New Mexico Ruling Against Meta Sparks Call for Big Tech Accountability
New Mexico's attorney general hopes a landmark ruling against Meta will trigger wider scrutiny of Big Tech's impact on children.
A New Mexico court has ordered Meta, the parent company of Facebook and Instagram, to pay $567 million and implement significant changes to protect minors, a decision the state's attorney general says should prompt a national conversation about Big Tech's role in child safety.
The ruling, delivered on Thursday by Judge Bryan Biedscheid, concludes the second phase of a trial where jurors had already found that Meta knowingly harmed children's mental health and concealed its knowledge of child sexual exploitation on its platforms. Combined with an earlier $375 million judgment, Meta now faces $942 million in penalties.
Beyond the financial penalty, the judge mandated that Meta overhaul its platforms to reduce addictive features, strengthen age verification, and better prevent child sexual exploitation. Specific requirements include improving the review and response to child abuse reports, limiting chatbot interactions with children, and capping daily usage for users under 17. The company must also display informational screens explaining safety tools and best practices, with these changes subject to state oversight.
New Mexico Attorney General Raúl Torrez emphasized that the ruling is just the beginning. "It's only the beginning of a conversation nationally that we need to have around all of these issues to make this a safer space for all our kids and families," he said. Torrez also criticized Meta's lack of accountability, noting the company has shown no willingness to accept responsibility or help fix the harms it created.
The $567 million includes $420 million earmarked for youth treatment services, with the remainder going toward awareness, prevention, and screening programs over five years. Lawmakers in New Mexico will decide how the funds are distributed. However, Meta has announced plans to appeal, and payment could be delayed until the appeal is resolved.
Meta defended its record, stating, "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." The company's stock dipped only slightly after the ruling, reflecting investor confidence despite the hefty judgments.
Torrez expects Meta to continue fighting through appeals and lobbying against new regulations. He also pointed to broader legal challenges ahead, including a federal lawsuit from 29 states and a separate case in Tennessee, as well as recent suits from families of teenagers who died by suicide.
The case was brought under New Mexico's 1970 consumer protection law, which Torrez noted was designed for a different economy and does not adequately address the scale of modern tech companies. He called for updating federal laws, including those that shield social media platforms from liability for user content, to better protect children in the digital age.