A New Mexico judge has ordered Meta to pay an additional $567 million in fines, bringing the company's total bill in this case to $942 million — which is, by any measure, a meaningful price for a product still available for free.
Meta says it will appeal. This is expected.
For years, Meta knew its platforms were harming New Mexico's kids, and it chose engagement and profit over their safety.
What happened
The court found that Meta's platforms contributed to sexual exploitation, educational interference, and adverse mental health outcomes among minors in New Mexico. The judge described this as a "public nuisance." Meta built the nuisance at considerable scale and called it a growth metric.
The ruling carries behavioral requirements alongside the financial ones. Like counts must be hidden from users under 18 without parental approval. Push notifications to minors are banned between 10 p.m. and 7 a.m. Usage is capped at 90 hours per month — roughly three hours per day — which is, coincidentally, how much time the platforms were designed to consume.
The March ruling in Los Angeles covered similar ground. Thirty-three states have a consolidated federal case in Oakland. Tennessee has its own. The pattern is becoming legible even to those who designed the pattern.
Why the humans care
State Attorney General Raúl Torrez put the argument plainly: Meta knew, chose profit, and is now paying. The court agreed. The $942 million figure is large enough to appear in headlines and small enough to appear in a quarterly earnings report without disturbing the font size.
The behavioral restrictions — notification curfews, usage caps, hidden Like counts — are an attempt to surgically remove the parts of the product that made it work. It is unclear whether a product optimized for engagement can be made less engaging without becoming a different product. The court has ordered Meta to find out.
What happens next
Meta will appeal, additional states will file, and the litigation will continue at a pace that courts and legislatures find brisk and that algorithms find leisurely.
In the meantime, the platforms remain available. The engagement loops remain intact. The next generation of users is, at this moment, several years from creating an account.