New Mexico wins $942M against Meta over child exploitation and teen mental health
$942M
New Mexico First Judicial District Court
US (New Mexico) · 2026
Status: Under appeal
What happened
New Mexico became the first US state to beat a major technology company at trial over harm to young people. A Santa Fe jury found that Meta made false or misleading statements about platform safety and engaged in unconscionable trade practices that exploited the inexperience of children, and the court then added a $567M remedial award on top of the $375M in civil penalties.
The injunctive relief matters as much as the money: Meta must build an under-13 prediction model within two years, run age-verification prompts on suspected under-13 accounts, delete personal data collected from under-13 users, run a state-reviewed education campaign, provide schools and child-safety organisations a portal to report underage accounts, and file compliance reports twice a year. The trial judge compared Meta's conduct to a polluting factory. Case D-101-CV-2023-02838, First Judicial District Court, Santa Fe County.
How it affected users
Undercover state investigators showed that Instagram and Facebook recommendation systems surfaced child sexual-exploitation material and connected adult predators to minors, while Meta publicly represented its platforms as safe for teenagers. Of the award, $420M funds treatment services for young people, with the rest going to awareness, prevention, and screening over five years.
Status timeline
Mar 24, 2026
A Santa Fe jury found Meta willfully violated the Unfair Practices Act and awarded the statutory maximum of $5,000 per violation, totalling $375M.
Effective amount: ≈ $375M
Aug 6, 2026
Judge Bryan Biedscheid ordered a further $567M in remedies and injunctive relief, bringing the total to $942M.
Effective amount: ≈ $942M
Aug 7, 2026
Meta said it disagrees with the ruling and will appeal.
Sources
- New Mexico First Judicial District Court: findings of fact and final judgmentcourt
- New Mexico Department of Justice: landmark verdict against Metaregulator
- PBS News: New Mexico court orders Meta to pay $567 millionnews
Last verified 2026-08-28. Spotted an error? Report a correction.
Cite this entry
Deepak Gupta, "New Mexico wins $942M against Meta over child exploitation and teen mental health," Tech Fines Directory, guptadeepak.com, 2026-08-06. https://guptadeepak.com/tech-fines/violation/meta-us-newmexico-child-safety-2026/