Facebook Owner Meta to Pay $567M for Child Safety Ruling Against

The decision follows a March jury ruling that found Meta knowingly harmed childrens mental health and hid information about child sexual exploitation on its platforms. With the earlier $375 million fine, Meta now faces a total penalty of $942 million.

Judge Bryan Biedscheid said $420 million of the money will be used to provide mental health treatment for young people in New Mexico. The remaining funds will support awareness programs, prevention efforts, screening services, and other related costs over the next five years.

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The March ruling was the first to hold Meta responsible for harm caused on its platforms. It followed a 2023 investigation that found Facebook, and Instagram had been used in child sex trafficking with former moderators saying some reports of child grooming were flagged but not properly escalated.

During the first phase of the trial, the court found that Meta repeatedly violated New Mexico's Unfair Practices Act by using recommendation algorithms that directed young users toward harmful content and unsafe contacts.

In the second phase, Judge Bryan Biedscheid ruled that Meta's harm had become a public nuisance because it affected the health and safety of the wider community.

The court also ordered Meta to remove "like" counts for users under 18, stop sending them notifications during late-night and school hours, and limit their use of Facebook and Instagram to about 3 hours a day.

"Just as noxious pollution produced by the factory can harm the common public right to reasonably clean air, the harmful effects of Meta's platforms on children do not stay contained by its platforms and, instead, migrate to the internet as a whole and, perhaps most concerning, to the real world and create a common, societal burden on and harm to the affected children and their families and schools, as well as hospitals and law enforcement," the judge wrote.

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