The parent company of Facebook and Instagram, which is led by CEO Mark Zuckerberg, has been fined $567 million in the second phase of the case
Credit: Jon Putman/Anadolu via Getty
NEED TO KNOW
- A court in New Mexico has ordered Meta to pay $942 million after being accused of harming children’s mental health
- The ruling requires Meta to implement safety measures like limiting teen’s usage of their social media platforms and restricting adult contact with minors, per The Times
- A spokesperson for Meta said in a statement obtained by PEOPLE that they “disagree” with the ruling and plan to appeal the decision
A New Mexico court has ordered Meta to pay nearly $1 billion to address harm done to young people and their mental health from its platforms.
New Mexico’s district attorney had accused Meta, the parent company of social media sites including Facebook and Instagram, of knowing its platforms harmed users and enabled child sexual exploitation.
Meta, led by CEO Mark Zuckerberg, had already been fined $375 million in the first phase of the case in March, with the ruling on Thursday, Aug. 6 adding another $567 million in fines, bringing the total to $942 million, per the BBC and The Times.
Judge Bryan Biedscheid called the company, which also owns WhatsApp, Threads and Messenger, a “public nuisance” and compared it to pollution “that must be abated,” according to the BBC.
Credit: Jaap Arriens/NurPhoto via Getty
Biedscheid ordered the company to impose safety measures and place the money into a fund that will be aimed at reducing future harms and mitigating the “wide-ranging impacts of the harm,” the outlet stated.
Around $420 million of the fines will go towards funding “appropriate clinical or other behavioral health programs and professionals,” to treat harm already caused by the platform, per the BBC.
The child safety measures include monthly limits on how much teens can use Instagram and Facebook, restrictions on notifications and preventing adults from contacting users under 18 whom they don’t know, per The Times.
The court order also requires Meta to report on its progress on the measures twice a year.
A Meta spokesperson said in a statement obtained by PEOPLE, “We disagree with the ruling and will 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.”
“We remain confident in our record of protecting teens online and will continue to defend ourselves against claims that misrepresent the facts,” they added.
New Mexico’s Attorney General Raúl Torrez said in a statement following Thursday’s ruling, “This case has always been about protecting children, standing up for families, and making sure that one of the world’s largest technology companies cannot profit from practices that endanger young people without consequence.”
“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,” Torrez added.
Credit: Rafael Henrique/SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty
The company had been ordered to pay the initial $375 million in a ruling back in March, the BBC previously reported. At the time, Meta said they also intended to appeal that verdict, per the outlet.
The verdict marked the first time a state had successfully sued the social media giant over child safety issues.
The case in New Mexico comes from a 2023 lawsuit filed by the state’s attorneys.
The lawsuit argued that Meta should be held liable for the way in which its platforms posed harm to children and exposed them to sexually explicit content and contact with sexual predators.
According to The Times, the initial verdict in the trial found that the company had repeatedly violated New Mexico’s Unfair Practices Act, and “steered” young people toward harmful content.
Never miss a story — sign up for PEOPLE’s free daily newsletter to stay up-to-date on the best of what PEOPLE has to offer, from celebrity news to compelling human interest stories.
Thursday’s ruling comes after Meta lost a landmark trial in March stemming from a Los Angeles County Superior Court lawsuit in which it was accused of intentionally integrating features that were designed to make young people become addicted to apps like Instagram starting in childhood, per previous reporting by CNN.
The company was also accused of failing to protect young people on its platforms.
The lawsuit was filed by a young woman identified only as “Kaley” or K.G.M. in court documents, PEOPLE previously reported. “Kaley” also sued YouTube and alleged that she had become addicted to the platforms, which had caused her mental health issues. “Kaley” ended up being awarded $6 million in damages, the BBC reported at the time.
Meta CEO Zuckerberg, 42, testified in the trial in court as he was grilled about social media addiction and its impacts on mental health. He denied that the company’s algorithm is intentionally addictive for children and teens.
“I’m focused on building a community that is sustainable,” Zuckerberg said in court, NBC News previously reported. “If you do something that’s not good for people, maybe they’ll spend more time [on Instagram] short term, but if they’re not happy with it, they’re not going to use it over time. I’m not trying to maximize the amount of time people spend every month.”
Read the full article here