New Mexico court orders Meta to pay extra $567M in child safety case

What's the deal? A New Mexico court on Thursday ordered Meta to pay $567 million, on top of the $375 million levied in March, over social media harms and addiction. That brings the total fines to $942 million.

What else? The court also ordered operational changes to Meta's platforms in the state. It must remove Like counts and only show such metrics to under-18 users with a parent or guardian's approval.

Push notifications to underage users in the state must pause between 22:00 and 07:00. Their usage should be capped at 90 hours a month — roughly three hours per day.

What's the reasoning? "Significant numbers of people in New Mexico experience harm from Meta's products due to risks of sexual exploitation, interference with education, and adverse mental health outcomes," the order said. The judge said Meta is not the only platform driving a youth mental health crisis, but ruled its platforms play a significant part and caused a "public nuisance."

What's Meta's response? The company said it will appeal. "We remain confident in our record of protecting teens online and will continue to defend ourselves against claims that misrepresent the facts," spokesperson Andy Stone said.

State Attorney General Raul Torrez framed the ruling as accountability. "For years, Meta knew its platforms were harming New Mexico's kids... and it chose engagement and profit over their safety," he said.

The signal: The ruling follows another loss in Los Angeles in March over addictive design. Meta faces several more cases, including a joint lawsuit by 33 states consolidated in an Oakland federal court, plus standalone suits from states like Tennessee — pointing to mounting legal pressure over youth safety.

Read more: TechCrunch

Image credit: Anthony Quintano