A New Mexico court judge in the United States on Thursday ordered Meta to pay an additional $567 million fine in a case involving allegations of social media harms and addiction.
The penalty comes on top of the $375 million fine imposed in March, bringing the company’s total fines in the case to $942 million.
The court also ordered Meta to make changes to how its platforms operate in the state. The company must remove Like counts from users under 18, unless they have approval from a parent or guardian to view the metrics.
Meta must also pause push notifications to underage users between 10 p.m. and 7 a.m. and limit their platform use to 90 hours per month, equivalent to roughly three hours per day.
“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 acknowledged that Meta is not the only social media platform contributing to the youth mental health crisis in New Mexico but said the company’s platforms play a significant role.
He ruled that Meta had created a substantial “public nuisance” in the state and must take steps to address the harm.
Meta said it plans to appeal the judgment.
“We work hard to keep people safe on our platforms and have been transparent about the challenges of identifying and removing bad actors and harmful content. We remain confident in our record of protecting teens online and will continue to defend ourselves against claims that misrepresent the facts,” company spokesperson Andy Stone said in an emailed statement according to TechCrunch.
“For years, Meta knew its platforms were harming New Mexico’s kids, from feeding a youth mental health crisis to connecting predators with children, and it chose engagement and profit over their safety,” state Attorney General Raúl Torrez said in a statement.
The ruling follows another setback for Meta in Los Angeles in March, where a court also found the social media company responsible for creating addictive patterns on its platforms.

