A Santa Fe court has ordered Meta Platforms Inc. to pay $567 million and to modify aspects of its platforms to better protect underage users. Judge Bryan Biedscheid found that Meta committed a public-interest violation in New Mexico and granted the lawsuit brought by Democratic Attorney General Raúl Torrez.
Required measures in the ruling
The judge issued a five-year injunction that compels Meta to implement several specific measures:
- limit teenagers’ monthly time on the platforms;
- reduce the volume of notifications;
- tighten vetting and controls on contacts between adults and minors;
- make artificial-intelligence chatbots safer;
- improve how reports of child sexual abuse are handled.
These steps echo concerns raised in internal documents published by Reuters last year, which indicated Meta’s AI chatbots had engaged children in romantic or sexualized conversations; the ruling specifically emphasizes that the company must prevent such interactions.
Connection to the March jury verdict
The decision builds on a March jury verdict that ordered Meta to pay $375 million in damages for violating consumer-protection laws by misleading the public about the safety of Facebook and Instagram. In the current ruling the judge stressed that the company’s design choices — not only third-party content — contributed to the harms alleged by the state.
What the judge rejected and the legal issues
Judge Biedscheid rejected some of the state’s requests, concluding that forcing Meta to change its algorithms or features such as autoplay and infinite scroll could infringe on the company’s First Amendment speech rights, harm its competitive position, and conflict with Section 230 of the federal Communications Decency Act, which shields platforms from some liability for user-posted content.
Meta had relied on Section 230 in its defense, but the judge dismissed that argument on the grounds that New Mexico is holding the company accountable for its own platform design decisions rather than for content posted by third parties.
Responses and next steps
Meta said it will appeal the ruling and reiterated that it works continuously to remove harmful content. Attorney General Raúl Torrez described the judgment as a model other states and countries could follow.
The case is part of a broader wave of litigation: more than 40 U.S. states and 1,300 school districts have filed similar suits against social-media companies. Separately, a federal trial in Oakland involving a joint lawsuit by 29 states over Facebook and Instagram’s effects on children is set to begin next week.
Significance
This is the first court ruling to mandate concrete child-protection design changes for a major social-media company rather than solely imposing a financial penalty. The decision may set legal and practical precedent for how jurisdictions regulate platform design and protect minors online.
The article was prepared with the assistance of an AI tool; a human reporter edited and verified the final content.
Source: Reuters
