U.S. court orders Meta to pay $567 mln for harm to children’s mental health

Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg. Photo: BBC

A U.S. New Mexico court has ordered Instagram and Facebook parent company Meta to pay $567 million to address harms to young people from its platforms, ABC News outlet reports. The ruling is another setback for Meta, which faces an avalanche of lawsuits from thousands of families of children harmed by social media.

Judge Bryan Biedscheid ordered that most of the money be directed toward programs helping young people who have suffered harm. The remainder will go toward training educators and healthcare professionals to address the harmful effects of social media on teenagers.

The judge ordered Facebook and Instagram to build banner and informational screens to clearly explain its protection features, best practices and tools to address inappropriate comment and display them regularly.

Meta must also attempt to develop a dedicated “under-13-years-of-age prediction model” in the next two years. The company must also partner with schools or a child safety organization to create a reporting portal where school staff can flag users who may be under 13. 

“Today’s decision is a victory for every parent who has worried about what social media is doing to their child and every child who deserves to grow up safer online,” New Mexico Attorney General Raúl Torrez said.

Meta representatives said they disagreed with the ruling and vowed to appeal.

“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,” the company said, adding that “we remain confident in our record of protecting teens online and will continue to defend ourselves against claims that misrepresent the facts.”

New Mexico prosecutors filed the lawsuit against Meta in 2023. A jury found the company liable for violating the state’s unfair practices law, concluding that the social media platforms’ algorithms directed children toward harmful content.

As the UOJ reported, a U.S. court previously found that Meta and YouTube cause harm to mental health.

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