Bota Posted on 2026-08-07 10:37:00

Meta ordered to pay 567 million USD - Court: Created "public concern" that damaged children's mental health

From Dorian Koça

Meta ordered to pay 567 million USD - Court: Created "public concern"

A judge in New Mexico ruled that Meta created a “public nuisance” that harmed the mental health of children, ordering the company to pay over half a billion dollars in damages and review safety features on Facebook and Instagram.

A judge in the US state of New Mexico has ordered Meta to pay $567 million and review the way Facebook and Instagram work for new users.

This ruling also comes in addition to the $375 million in damages that a jury ordered against Meta in March, bringing the company’s total liability in New Mexico to $942 million. The March ruling concluded that Meta violated the state’s consumer protection law by misleading the public about the safety of its platforms for children.

Roughly three-quarters of the $567 million, to be paid over five years, will fund mental health treatment for youth. The rest will go toward prevention programs, screening, and related services.

The judge also ordered Meta to make direct changes to Facebook and Instagram, including monthly limits on teen usage, stricter notification controls, stronger protections for adults' contact with minors, oversight of artificial intelligence chatbots, and better handling of reports of child sexual abuse.

The company must also work with schools to build a reporting system to flag underage users and must also delete the data it keeps on children under 13. Federal privacy law prohibits Meta from collecting personal data to verify children's ages, so the court instead ordered the company to continue improving its artificial intelligence-based age assessment tools.

Live TV

Latest news
All news

Most visited