A New Mexico court has mandated that Meta pay $567 million into a dedicated fund to combat the alleged mental health impacts on children linked to its social media platforms. This decision comes after a March jury ruling that found Meta culpable for knowingly contributing to mental health issues among children and failing to properly tackle child sexual exploitation on its sites. With this new order, Meta’s total financial responsibility in this legal matter has climbed to $942 million.
In detail, $420 million of the newly awarded funds are allocated for mental health treatment services for the youth of New Mexico. The remaining portion will be directed toward prevention and awareness initiatives, screening services, and additional measures over the next five years. Alongside the financial penalties, the court has directed Meta to enhance child-safety protocols on its platforms, Facebook and Instagram. This includes improving age-assurance systems, offering clearer information about safety and privacy controls, and devising methods to identify users potentially under the age of 13.
Additionally, Meta is required to collaborate with schools or child-safety organizations to create a system allowing for the reporting of accounts suspected of belonging to children under 13 years old. The company is also instructed to delete any personal information collected from these underage users and to submit progress reports on its compliance with the court’s directives twice annually. However, the court refrained from imposing universal age verification exclusively within New Mexico, citing concerns over fairness and existing federal privacy protections for children.
In response, Meta has announced its intention to appeal the ruling, asserting its commitment to protecting users and highlighting efforts already made to address harmful content and online safety issues. This case adds to the mounting legal scrutiny Meta faces regarding claims that its platforms may have detrimental effects on young users. Similar legal challenges are underway in other states across the United States.