New restrictions on Meta platforms have been welcomed by Amnesty International as progress for children’s online rights.
Amnesty International says a New Mexico ruling against Meta strengthens the case for child safety measures targeting how social media platforms are designed, rather than relying primarily on age restrictions.
The judge ordered Meta to contribute $567 million to a fund addressing harms to children’s mental health and introduce changes to Facebook and Instagram for younger users in New Mexico.
Measures include hiding ‘like’ counts by default for users under 18 and restricting notifications during school and overnight hours. Amnesty welcomed the focus on product features, arguing that risks to children can emerge from systems designed to maximise engagement and encourage prolonged use.
The organisation has repeatedly called for child safety safeguards to be incorporated from the design stage. It argues that governments should require changes to addictive and manipulative platform features rather than treating blanket social media bans as the main solution.
The judgement followed an earlier phase of the same case in which a jury imposed $375 million in civil penalties after finding that Meta violated New Mexico’s consumer protection law by misleading users about platform safety and exposing young people to risks of sexual exploitation.
Amnesty also linked the decision to a separate Los Angeles case in which a jury found Meta and Google liable over harms associated with a young woman’s social media use. Both companies disputed that verdict.
Meta disagrees with the latest New Mexico ruling and intends to appeal. The ordered platform changes currently apply only to users in New Mexico.
Why does it matter?
By targeting engagement features alongside imposing financial penalties, the ruling could provide a model for child safety regulation that focuses on platform responsibility rather than on access restrictions alone. However, its wider influence will depend on Meta’s appeal and whether courts or regulators elsewhere adopt similar design-based requirements.
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