New Mexico orders Meta to pay $567m more in child-safety case

A New Mexico judge ordered Meta to pay another $567 million in the state’s child-safety case, bringing the company’s total penalty to $942 million after an earlier $375 million verdict. The new order, issued on August 6, created a fund aimed at harms to young people from Facebook and Instagram.

About $420 million of the new money will go to treatment services for young people, while the rest is earmarked for awareness, prevention and screening efforts. The size of the award makes it the largest child-safety ruling against a social media company, a sharp escalation in the pressure on Meta over how its platforms affect minors.

The case was brought by New Mexico Attorney General Raúl Torrez. In a statement from Santa Fe, he called the final judgment a landmark victory for the people of New Mexico and for families across the country. The New Mexico Department of Justice said the ruling was a landmark victory for New Mexico families.

The latest penalty follows the first phase of the case, when a New Mexico jury found Meta liable on March 24, 2026, for violating state law by misleading users about the safety of its platforms for children. That verdict carried a $375 million award, and the two rulings together now put Meta on the hook for nearly $1 billion in the state case alone.

Meta said it remained confident in its record of protecting teens online and planned to appeal the earlier $375 million ruling. The company now faces a ruling that goes beyond punishment and into remediation, with money set aside for treatment, screening and prevention tied directly to young users.

The outcome lands after New Mexico had been seeking far more, including a proposed $3.7 billion fine and sweeping protections in the case. Even so, the $567 million order marks one of the clearest legal rebukes yet to a major platform over child safety, and it adds to mounting political and legal scrutiny of Meta’s handling of Facebook and Instagram.