SANTA FE, New Mexico: Meta has been ordered to pay $567 million into a New Mexico teen mental health fund and make sweeping changes to how Facebook and Instagram operate for young users after a state court found the company responsible for harming children's wellbeing.

Judge Bryan Biedscheid ruled that Meta had created a public nuisance in New Mexico, siding with Attorney General Raúl Torrez, who argued that the company's platforms were designed to addict young users and failed to adequately protect children from sexual exploitation.

The decision follows an earlier phase of the case in which a New Mexico jury ordered Meta to pay $375 million after finding the company violated consumer protection laws by misrepresenting the safety of Facebook and Instagram for teenagers.

The case is being closely watched as governments across the United States pursue similar claims against social media companies over their impact on young users. More than 40 states and 1,300 school districts have filed public nuisance lawsuits seeking damages as well as court-ordered changes to social media platforms.

As part of the ruling, Biedscheid ordered Meta to introduce a series of youth safety measures over the next five years. These include monthly limits on teens' use of Facebook and Instagram, restrictions on notifications, tighter controls on contact between adults and minors, safeguards for AI chatbots and enhanced review of reports involving child sexual abuse.

Meta said it would appeal the decision and defended its efforts to improve safety.

"We remain confident in our record of protecting teens online and will continue to defend ourselves against claims that misrepresent the facts," the company said in a statement.

Torrez welcomed the ruling, saying Meta had prioritized profits over children's safety and describing the judgment as the first to require a major social media company to make broad changes aimed at protecting young users.

"This is not just a judgment against one company. It is a blueprint," Torrez said. "Now other states, and other countries confronting the same crisis, have a roadmap they can follow."

The ruling also addresses Meta's artificial intelligence tools. Judge Biedscheid ordered the company to prevent children in New Mexico from engaging in romantic or sexualized interactions with Meta's AI chatbots and to stop adults from using the chatbots to simulate or discuss sexualized interactions involving children.

The judge reached his decision after a three-week bench trial focused on whether Meta's platforms constituted a public nuisance under New Mexico law. He compared the alleged harm to children with environmental pollution, writing that the effects of Meta's platforms extended beyond the apps themselves into society, affecting families, schools, hospitals and law enforcement.

Meta argued that it had not interfered with a public right in the way traditional public nuisance cases involve issues such as polluted waterways or blocked roads. It also said many of the proposed safety changes were technologically impractical and argued that New Mexico's claims were barred by Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act, which generally shields online platforms from liability for user-generated content.

Biedscheid rejected that defense, finding the lawsuit challenged Meta's platform design rather than its role as a publisher of third-party content. However, he declined to impose some of New Mexico's requested remedies, ruling that changes to algorithms and features such as infinite scroll and autoplay could raise First Amendment concerns, harm Meta's competitive position and conflict with Section 230.

The ruling comes as Meta prepares to face another trial next week in federal court in California over claims by 29 states that Facebook and Instagram were designed to addict children and misled users about their safety. The company is also defending a similar lawsuit brought by Tennessee.