Meta have to pay $567m over harm to children

A court in the US state of New Mexico has ordered Meta, the parent company of Facebook and Instagram, to pay $567 million to address the harm its platforms have caused to young people.

Judge Bryan Biedscheid issued the ruling on Thursday, ordering the company to fund programmes addressing youth mental health and implement measures to improve child safety on its platforms.

Of the amount, $420 million will go toward treatment services, while the remainder will fund awareness, prevention and screening programmes over five years.

The court also ordered Meta to introduce stronger safeguards for young users, including limits on teenagers’ platform use, restrictions on notifications, tighter controls on interactions between adults and minors, and enhanced protections involving AI chatbots.

The ruling follows an earlier $375 million civil penalty imposed on Meta in March after a jury found the company had violated New Mexico’s consumer protection laws and knowingly harmed children’s mental health.

Meta said it disagreed with the ruling and would appeal, maintaining that it has worked to protect teenagers and remove harmful content from its platforms.