New Mexico court orders Meta to pay $567m over harms to children’s mental health
Ruling comes as part of second phase of landmark trial that found social media company enabled harm against users A New Mexico court has ordered Meta, the parent company of Facebook, to pay $567m into a fund aimed at redressing adverse mental health impacts from the social media giant’s platforms. The Thursday ruling comes as a part of the second phase of a landmark trial the social media giant…
A New Mexico court has ordered Meta, the parent company of Facebook and Instagram, to pay $567 million into a fund aimed at addressing the adverse mental health impacts of its platforms on young people. The ruling is part of the second phase of a landmark trial that found Meta had knowingly harmed children's mental health and concealed what it knew about child sexual exploitation on its platforms.
According to CBS News, the bulk of the money, $420 million, will be used for treatment services for young people, with the rest going toward awareness and prevention, screening services, and other costs over the next five years. The court also ordered Meta to make changes to its platforms, including building banner and informational screens to clearly explain its protection features and best practices.
The trial found that Meta had created a public nuisance in New Mexico, with the state's Attorney General Raúl Torrez accusing the company of designing products to addict young users and failing to protect children from sexual exploitation on its platforms. Meta has stated that it disagrees with the ruling and will appeal.
Brief written by urgent.news from Guardian Business, NPR, Daily Maverick, Economic Times Tech, CBS News — 5 reports on this story. Machine-written — it may contain errors, so check the original before relying on it.
