A New Mexico judge has imposed the largest child safety penalty ever issued against a social media company

A judge in New Mexico has imposed a $567million (£421million) penalty on Meta, representing the single largest child safety fine ever levied against a social media company.

Judge Bryan Biedscheid's ruling on Thursday brings the total financial punishment in the case to $942million, following an earlier $375million order.

In a striking legal characterisation, the judge branded Meta a "public nuisance", drawing a direct parallel with air pollution.

He likened the technology giant to a factory whose products are advertising and content, describing "the psychological harm and sexual exploitation of children to be the pollution that must be abated".

The funds must be placed into a dedicated pot designed to address and reduce future harms to young people.

Meta, the parent company of Instagram, Facebook, WhatsApp and Threads, has confirmed it intends to challenge the decision.

A Meta spokesman said: "We disagree with the ruling and will appeal.

"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."

Meta also said it was "confident in our record of protecting teens online" and vowed to fight what it described as claims that "misrepresent the facts".

The company offered a near-identical defence when the initial $375million verdict was handed down, marking the first time any US state had successfully taken Meta to court over child safety.

Meta is also contending with thousands of comparable lawsuits across America.

Earlier this year, the company suffered a separate defeat in Los Angeles, where a court determined that it could be held liable for designing addictive platforms.

Judge Biedscheid drew extensively on environmental law language to frame the damage caused by Meta's platforms.

He compared the detrimental impact on children to "noxious pollution produced by the factory" that undermines "the common public right to reasonably clean air".

The judge also found that the harms do not remain contained within Meta's own services, concluding that the effects spread across the wider internet and into everyday life beyond screens.

He said this creates a shared societal burden that falls not only on affected children and their families but also on schools, hospitals and law enforcement agencies.

The ruling appears to be the first instance in which a social media company has been formally classified as a public nuisance, a legal designation typically reserved for widespread threats to public health and safety.

The majority of the $567million fund, around $420million, has been earmarked to treat harms already inflicted by Meta's platforms by financing clinical and behavioural health programmes and professionals.

A further portion of the funding will support training initiatives for teachers and health workers to help them recognise and respond to social media-related harm among children.

Beyond the financial penalties, Judge Biedscheid also imposed a series of operational requirements on the company.

Meta must ensure that no account belonging to someone under 18 is recommended to adult users, while adults must be prevented from sending direct messages to minors.

The order also mandates a ban on underage users sending or receiving nudity, introduces a one-strike removal policy for adults engaged in child sexual exploitation and requires the removal of "like" counts for users under 18.

Push notifications must also be blocked between 10pm and 7am, as well as during school hours on weekdays.

Bruce Daisley, former european vice president at Twitter, now known as X, told BBC Radio 4's Today programme that while the fine is substantial, it amounts to "a drop in the ocean" for a company that generated $61billion in revenue between April and June alone, a 28 per cent increase on the previous year.

He said: "But it's an indication that we are moving to a stage where social media is going to be tackled around the world."

Former safeguarding minister Jess Phillips suggested on the same programme that American legal action against major technology firms could embolden Britain to pursue tougher enforcement without concerns about straining transatlantic relations.

The Government has already announced plans to bar under-16s from social media and introduce opt-out nighttime "curfews" for older teenagers.

Meanwhile, a fresh trial awaits Meta in California next week, where nearly three dozen state attorneys general are pursuing the company over alleged violations of child privacy laws.