Social media companies are facing escalating legal pressure in the U.S. over how their platforms affect children and teenagers. That pressure sharpened on August 6, when a New Mexico judge ordered Meta to change parts of Instagram and Facebook after a landmark state case over youth mental health and child safety. The decision adds new court supervision to a broader national fight over whether platform design, not just posted content, can create legal liability.
New Mexico judge orders broad platform changes and $567 million in penalties
Judge Bryan Biedscheid ordered Meta on Thursday, August 6, to make what the Associated Press described as fundamental changes to Instagram and Facebook for younger users in New Mexico, while also imposing $567 million in additional penalties in the second phase of the state’s case. According to the ruling described by AP, that amount comes on top of the $375 million in civil penalties jurors imposed in March, bringing Meta’s total liability in the New Mexico case to $942 million.
The court said most of the new money, about $420 million, will go toward treatment services for young people, with the rest directed to prevention, screening, awareness and related costs over the next five years, according to AP. The ruling also requires Meta to display banner and information screens explaining safety tools and best practices and to submit reports twice a year on its compliance with the court-ordered measures. Meta said it plans to appeal and stated that it has worked to keep people safe on its platforms.
The judge also ordered changes tied to age assurance and youth protections, according to AP’s account of the decision. Those steps include improving age-estimation tools in New Mexico, developing a dedicated model to predict whether users may be under 13 within two years, requesting proof of age from users the company estimates are under 13, and treating uncertain users as minors until their ages are verified.
The ruling is specific to New Mexico, making the state the immediate testing ground for court-supervised changes to how Meta handles younger users on Facebook and Instagram. AP reported that the court also directed Meta to work with schools or a child-safety organization to create a reporting portal so school staff can flag users who may be under 13. New Mexico Attorney General Raúl Torrez said the order sends a message that companies can be held accountable when product design puts children at risk.
Some practical details are still unresolved. AP reported that the court’s age-verification measures are constrained by the federal Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act, or COPPA, which limits what the judge can require for children under 13. The court said it cannot order Meta to force children to submit personal data or to be passively tracked even for age verification, which leaves open questions about exactly how proof-of-age systems will work in practice.
It is also not yet clear how Meta will identify which users are subject to the New Mexico-specific rules. AP reported that legal experts said location-based methods such as IP-address checks could be one option, but the company has not released a detailed public rollout plan for New Mexico users. The full timeline for visible product changes on Facebook and Instagram also has not been publicly detailed.
The New Mexico ruling lands as Meta faces wider litigation over whether Instagram and Facebook were designed in ways that can keep children engaged compulsively and expose them to harm. Reuters reported on June 30 that a federal judge in Oakland rejected Meta’s effort to dismiss claims from 29 states accusing the company of designing the platforms to addict children and concealing related harms. That judge also said Meta did not comply with COPPA notice and parental-consent requirements, according to Reuters.
AP reported that New Mexico prosecutors asked for remedies aimed at addictive features, stronger age verification and better protections against child sexual exploitation. The judge’s order did not remove every feature critics have targeted, however. AP reported that autoplay, infinite scroll and algorithmic recommendations were not broadly barred, with the judge reasoning that restricting those tools only at Meta could be inequitable if competitors kept using similar features.
For users and families in New Mexico, the immediate effect is that Meta must operate under court-ordered oversight while it works on youth-safety changes and reporting requirements. Nationally, the case adds to a growing legal record that state and federal courts are willing to scrutinize platform design itself. AP and Reuters both reported that Meta is also heading into additional court fights this month, including a federal trial in California involving four of the 29 states in the broader multistate case.