New Delhi: Meta, the parent company of Facebook and Instagram, has suffered a major legal setback in the United States after a New Mexico court ordered the company to pay $567 million in a case involving alleged harm to children and teenagers.
The ruling is part of a landmark legal battle over the impact of social-media platforms on young users. Judge Bryan Biedscheid ordered Meta to put the money into a state fund focused on youth mental-health treatment and prevention. Around $420 million of the amount is expected to support treatment services, with the remaining funds going toward prevention, screening and related programmes.
The latest penalty comes on top of a separate $375 million civil award issued earlier in the same case. Combined, Meta’s financial liability in the New Mexico proceedings has reached approximately $942 million.
The case centres on allegations that Meta knowingly designed and operated platforms in ways that could harm young users. The court found that the company’s platforms contributed to problems involving children’s mental health and also failed to adequately prevent risks such as child sexual exploitation.
The judge also ordered Meta to make several changes to Facebook and Instagram in New Mexico. These include stronger age-verification measures, changes to notifications during school and night hours, educational messages about safety tools and additional measures intended to reduce harmful interactions involving minors.
One particularly important issue is age verification. Platforms have long struggled to determine whether a user is a child without collecting additional personal information. The New Mexico ruling encourages the use of technology, including AI-based age prediction, while requiring Meta to take steps to remove data belonging to users under 13.
Meta has rejected the accusations and plans to appeal the decision. The company has argued that it already invests heavily in teen safety and that the legal claims do not accurately reflect its work to protect younger users.
The ruling could have consequences beyond New Mexico. Other US states are pursuing cases against major social-media companies over alleged harm to children, and lawyers and regulators are closely watching the outcome.
