A New Mexico court has ordered Meta, the parent company of Facebook, to pay $۵۶۷m for mental health harm to children from its platforms.
Judge Bryan Biedscheid said the bulk of the money – $۴۲۰m – would be used for treatment services for young people. The rest will go toward awareness and prevention, screening services and other costs over the next five years.
The ruling on Thursday comes as part of the second phase of a landmark trial the social media giant lost in March. At the time, a jury found that the company knowingly harmed children’s mental health and concealed what it knew about child sexual exploitation on its platforms, and imposed a $۳۷۵m fine.
That trial was the first to find Meta liable for acts committed on its platform, and followed a Guardian investigation that revealed how Facebook and Instagram had become marketplaces for child sex trafficking.
In the second phase of the trial, prosecutors had asked the judge to impose fundamental changes at Meta aimed at reining in addictive features, improving age verification, and preventing child sexual exploitation through default privacy settings and closer oversight.
The judge has also ordered other changes, including that Facebook and Instagram build banner and informational screens to clearly explain its protection features, best practices, and tools to address inappropriate comment.
Those changes, and an educational campaign in New Mexico, would be subject to review by the state.
“We disagree with the ruling and will appeal,” said a statement issued by a Meta spokesperson late on Thursday.
“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. We remain confident in our record of protecting teens online and will continue to defend ourselves against claims that misrepresent the facts,” it added.
More details soon …
