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New Mexico orders Meta to pay $567M over minors’ mental health harms
The ruling also requires five years of court-supervised platform reforms focused on design features like autoplay and endless scrolling, and Meta plans to appeal.
A New Mexico judge ordered Meta Platforms to pay $567 million into a state abatement fund aimed at treating and preventing juvenile mental health damage tied to social media use, according to Yahoo Finance. The money is split between $420 million for youth treatment programs and the remainder for awareness and prevention efforts, screening and assessment, and referral management over the next five years.
The decision, issued August 6 by Judge Bryan Biedscheid of Santa Fe County District Court, followed a three-week, non-jury trial focused on whether Meta’s platforms were a public nuisance under New Mexico law. Yahoo Finance also notes the case builds on an earlier phase in which a jury found Meta liable for 75,000 violations of the state Unfair Practices Act and imposed a maximum civil penalty of $375 million in March.
With the new order, Meta’s overall obligation in the case totals $942 million, which Yahoo Finance says surpasses prior punishments in similar matters, including a $6 million verdict in a California case decided in March. While the monetary figure drew headlines, the court’s five-year reform requirement is a core part of the outcome, according to the report.
Yahoo Finance reports that Judge Biedscheid found Meta intentionally used engagement-oriented design features such as endless scrolling, autoplay, notifications, and content recommendation systems to increase time spent on the platforms, particularly among teenagers. The court also found the platforms facilitated child sexual exploitation, and Meta said it will appeal, expressing confidence in its track record protecting minors online.