New Mexico Court Fines Meta Over Harms to Children’s Mental Health

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 lost in March. At the time, a jury found that the company knowingly harmed children’s mental health and concealed what it knew about child sexual exploitation on its platforms, and imposed the maximum penalty: a $375m fine.

The ruling on Thursday is an addition to that fine, bringing the total amount Meta is responsible for to $942m.

Judge Bryan Biedscheid said the bulk of the money – $420m – would be used for treatment services for young people in New Mexico. The rest will go toward awareness and prevention, screening services and other costs over the next five years.

- Author: Uwa Ede-Osifo and agencies, The Guardian

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