Archive · 7 Aug 2026
Court Orders Meta to Pay $567 Million for Youth Harm
A court in New Mexico told Meta, the big company that owns Instagram and Facebook, that it must pay $567 million to help kids.
Most of that money, $420 million, will pay for treatment and support for young people.
The rest will pay for awareness, prevention and screening programs over the next five years.
The court found that Meta's apps were hurting kids' mental health and that the company did not do enough to protect them from harmful content and bad people online.
Earlier, a jury had already ordered Meta to pay $375 million for knowingly harming children's mental health.
The judge also said Meta must make changes, like limiting how long teens can use the apps, restricting notifications, and showing safety information screens.
Meta must use artificial intelligence tools to guess how old users are and must try to build a system that predicts which users are under 13.
A federal law called COPPA stops the court from making Meta verify the ages of children under 13 in certain ways.
Meta says it disagrees with the decision and will appeal because it believes it works hard to keep people safe.
A New Mexico state court ordered Meta, parent company of Facebook and Instagram, to pay $567 million after finding its platforms created a public nuisance harming children's mental health.
$420 million of the payment will fund treatment services for young people, with the remainder going toward awareness, prevention, screening services and related costs over five years.
Judge Bryan Biedscheid ordered youth-safety measures including monthly usage limits for teens, notification restrictions, tighter controls on adult contact, safeguards for AI chatbots, and enhanced review of child sexual abuse reports.
The ruling followed a March jury verdict that imposed $375 million in civil penalties after finding Meta knowingly harmed children's mental health and concealed what it knew about child sexual exploitation.
Meta said it disagrees with the ruling and will appeal, stating it remains confident in its record of protecting teens online.
- Who
- Meta, the parent company of Facebook and Instagram; Judge Bryan Biedscheid; and New Mexico Attorney General Raúl Torrez.
- What
- A New Mexico court ordered Meta to pay $567 million and adopt youth-safety platform changes after finding it created a public nuisance that harmed children's mental health.
- When
- Late Thursday, in the second phase of a landmark trial; a jury had delivered its verdict in March.
- Where
- Santa Fe, New Mexico, United States.
- Why
- The court found Meta designed its products to addict young users, knowingly harmed children's mental health, and failed to protect children from sexual exploitation on its platforms.
Court & Prosecutors
Meta
Responsibility for youth harm
Court & Prosecutors
The court found Meta created a public nuisance under New Mexico law, knowingly harmed children's mental health, and concealed what it knew about child sexual exploitation on Facebook and Instagram.
Meta
Meta says it works hard to keep people safe, has been transparent about the challenges of identifying and removing bad actors and harmful content, and remains confident in its record of protecting teens online.
Age verification limits
Court & Prosecutors
Prosecutors sought fundamental changes at Meta, including improved age verification, to protect children from harmful content and exploitation.
Meta
The court said COPPA prevents Meta from applying age-verification tools to children under 13, and that requiring only Meta to verify ages while other social media companies are not subject to the order would be inequitable and unduly injurious to the company.
The $567 million remedy
Court & Prosecutors
The court ordered the payment and broad platform changes, including monthly usage limits, banner screens, an AI-based under-13 prediction model, and a school reporting portal.
Meta
Meta disagrees with the ruling and will appeal, saying the claims misrepresent the facts of its record of protecting teens online.
- Total ordered payment
- $567 million
- Allocation for treatment services
- $420 million
- First-phase jury penalties
- $375 million
- Presiding judge
- Judge Bryan Biedscheid (also reported as Biedcheid)
- State Attorney General
- Raúl Torrez, a Democrat
- Duration of decree
- Five years
- Applicable federal law
- Children's Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA)
- Meta response
- Disagrees with ruling and will appeal
Sources
Court orders Meta to pay $567 million to address kids' mental health and safety on its platforms
New Mexico court orders Meta to pay $567 million over alleged harm to young users
Meta Ordered to Pay $567 Million in New Mexico for Teen Mental Health Fund
US Court Orders Meta To Pay $567 Million To Address Children's Mental Health