“For years, Meta knew that its platforms were harming New Mexico’s kids, from feeding a youth mental health crisis to connecting predators with children, and it chose engagement and profit over their safety,” New Mexico Attorney General Raul Torrez said in a statement. “Today, Meta is paying for that choice.”
A New Mexico court has ordered Meta, the owner of Facebook and Instagram, to establish a $567 million fund to redress the mental health impact of its platforms and policies.
According to The Guardian, the court’s Thursday ruling was part of the second phase of a landmark trial. In March, a jury found that Meta had knowingly harmed children’s mental health and made a concerted effort to conceal what it knew about sexual exploitation and predation on its platforms. Ultimately, the jury imposed the maximum penalty permissible under state law, amounting to a $375 million fine.
The ruling on Thursday, notes the Guardian, brings Meta’s financial liability in the case close to $1 billion, with the social media giant already under orders to pay out an estimated $942 million.
Judge Bryan Biedscheid said that a significant portion of this amount—about $420 million—will be placed into an account and earmarked for youth-oriented treatment services. The rest of the fund will go toward awareness, prevention, screening services, and miscellaneous costs.
“Although Meta is not alone in this regard, its social media platforms are a significant contributing factor to the current mental health crisis among New Mexico’s youth established by the substantial evidence in this case,” Biedscheid said.
Biedscheid also directed Meta to take a series of steps aimed toward improving children’s safety. While Meta won’t be required to implement a strict age-verification system, the court ordered that it explore “age-assurance” options, which use artificial intelligence and content-related markers to estimate a user’s age. Meta must also develop a dedicated “under-13-years-of-age prediction model” sometime in the next two years.
As part of the order, Meta must eventually find a safe, effective, and reliable way to request proof-of-age for Instagram and Facebook users that it estimates to be under the age of 13.
“For years, Meta knew that its platforms were harming New Mexico’s kids, from feeding a youth mental health crisis to connecting predators with children, and it chose engagement and profit over their safety,” New Mexico Attorney General Raul Torrez said in a statement. “Today, Meta is paying for that choice.”
“This case has always been about protecting children, standing up for families, and making sure that one of the world’s largest technology companies cannot profit from practices that endanger young people without consequence,” Torrez added.
Meta, for its part, says that it disagrees with the ruling and plans to appeal Biedscheid’s decision.
“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,” Meta said in a statement.
Sources
Meta Ordered to Pay $567 Million in New Mexico Child Safety Case
New Mexico court orders Meta to pay $567m over harms to children’s mental health
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