A New Mexico judge has ordered Facebook parent Meta Platforms to pay an additional $567 million (£422m) in damages and make changes to the user experience of accounts for young people, in the second phase of a landmark trial that began earlier this year.
The ruling by Chief District Court Judge Bryan Biedscheid in Santa Fe follows the trial’s first phase, in which a jury found Meta had violated New Mexico’s unfair practices law in 75,000 instances by offering a defective product and creating a public nuisance harming young people.
The jury ordered Meta to pay $375m in the first phase.
Mental health crisis
Biedscheid said New Mexico was experiencing a youth mental health crisis and that Meta’s platforms are “a significant contributing cause”.
