A Day’s Income

Yesterday a judge in New Mexico ordered Meta to pay $567 million for the harm its platforms have done to children.[1] It is the largest child safety ruling ever made against a social media company, and the first time one has been legally declared a public nuisance.[2] The judge compared Meta to a factory, with advertising and content as its product and the psychological harm and sexual exploitation of children as, in his words, "the pollution that must be abated".[2]

$567 million sounds like a punishment. So I did the maths.

Meta's revenue last year was $200.97 billion.[3] The fine amounts to just one day of that. Twenty-five hours, near enough. Net profit for 2025 was around $60.5 billion,[4] and $567 million is 0.9% of it. That's three and a half days.

Median full-time pay in the UK is £39,039.[5] So on your wage that's £366. Maybe the cost of a boiler repair. Add the $375 million a jury already awarded in March in the earlier phase of the same case,[6] and the whole $942 million comes to £608 on a normal salary. And it gets worse. The $567 million is spread across five years,[7] so the annual hit is £73. £6 a month, for being legally ruled a public nuisance to children.

The market did the same sums faster than I did. Meta's share price fell by less than half a percent on the news.[8] Investors looked at the largest child safety judgment in the industry's history and correctly decided it changed nothing.

And to make the comparison even more stark, Meta plans to spend between $115 and $135 billion this year on AI infrastructure and data centres.[9] That's roughly $342 million a day. The entire $942 million penalty, both phases of the biggest child safety case ever brought against a tech company, equals less than three days of what they are choosing to spend on server farms. Children's minds are priced below the electricity.

The only good news is that the $567 million goes into an abatement fund, most of it for treatment services for young people.[7] And the decree binds Meta for five years: monthly limits on teen use of Facebook and Instagram, restrictions on the notifications designed to drag them back, tighter controls on adult contact with minors, safeguards on AI chatbots talking to children, and proper review of child sexual abuse reports.[10] Those obligations might matter more than any number. But they apply in only one US state, New Mexico, and nowhere else. Not only that, Meta disagrees with the ruling and says it will appeal.[11] Hardly surprising…

A fine only deters when it costs more than the behaviour earned. Below that line it stops being a punishment and becomes a licence fee, a known operating cost, priced in and paid without a flinch, and the half-percent shrug of the share price is the receipt. The judge's own comparison stated: Meta as the factory, the harm to children as the pollution that must be abated. Environmental law learned exactly this decades ago. Fine a factory less than the cost of the filter and the factory keeps the filter money and pays the fine. Every year. Gladly.

My children don't have social media. It is a firm rule in this house, and with a 15 year old and a 12 year old, it's not easy, because the pull is constant and every one of their friends is already on it. I made that rule on instinct. A court has now put numbers, three weeks of testimony and the word nuisance underneath the instinct. I'm not glad to be right. I would rather have been paranoid.

And, the irony is that I know exactly where this post is going. Instagram. Meta's own shop floor. There is no clean platform to shout from, so I use theirs, the same way you can oppose a supermarket and still have to buy bread somewhere. But let's be clear about the difference. I'm a woman posting art and words on their platform. They're a company a court just ruled is harming and sexually exploiting children by design, for profit. Using the shop floor doesn't make me the factory. And I refuse to let the size of the fine pass as accountability, because it isn't one day of accountability. It's one day of income.

The real weight of yesterday is the precedent, not the payment. Thousands of families and school districts have cases queued behind this one,[12] and public nuisance is now a door that has been opened. If enough lawsuits are brought, the licence fee starts to become an actual bill. Until then, remember this: $567 million is one day of Meta's income. That's what they think our children are worth - a single day.

Receipts

[1] A New Mexico court ordered Meta to pay $567 million to address harms to young people, ruling by Judge Bryan Biedscheid. Associated Press / NBC News, 6 August 2026.

[2] Largest child safety ruling against a social media company; Meta ruled a public nuisance; the judge's factory and pollution comparison. The Telegraph via Yahoo News / Engadget, 6–7 August 2026.

[3] Meta full year 2025 revenue: $200.97 billion. Meta Q4 and Full Year 2025 Results, 28 January 2026.

[4] Meta full year 2025 net income: approximately $60.5 billion. Meta Q4 and Full Year 2025 Results, 28 January 2026; AP reports annual profit of about $60 billion.

[5] Median gross annual earnings for full-time UK employees: £39,039. ONS Annual Survey of Hours and Earnings, April 2025 data, published October 2025.

[6] $375 million in civil penalties awarded by a New Mexico jury in the first phase of the case. Associated Press, March 2026.

[7] The $567 million decree runs over five years; $420 million of it funds treatment services for young people. Associated Press / PBS News, 6 August 2026.

[8] Meta shares fell less than half a percent to $589.44 in after-hours trading following the ruling. Associated Press / NBC News, 6 August 2026.

[9] Meta expects 2026 capital expenditure of $115 to $135 billion. Meta Q4 and Full Year 2025 Results, 28 January 2026.

[10] Decree measures: monthly teen use limits, notification restrictions, controls on adult contact with minors, AI chatbot safeguards, enhanced review of child sexual abuse reports; New Mexico only. RTÉ News / Benzinga, 7 August 2026.

[11] Meta statement that it disagrees with the ruling and will appeal. Multiple outlets, 6–7 August 2026.

[12] Meta faces lawsuits from thousands of families of children harmed by social media. Associated Press / NBC News, 6 August 2026.