Meta has been handed one of its largest court penalties yet over its effect on young people, after a New Mexico judge ordered the company to pay $567m into a fund for youth mental health.
The ruling has a clear structure: of the total, $420m is earmarked for treatment services for young people, while the remainder covers awareness, prevention and screening over the next five years.
The figure came in the second phase of a closely watched trial, and Judge Bryan Biedscheid handed it down after an earlier stage of the case had already gone against the company.
Those findings were damning, because the court concluded that Meta knowingly harmed children’s mental health and designed features with addictive properties aimed at minors, all while failing to act on what it knew.
For the state, the decision was about accountability. New Mexico Attorney General Raúl Torrez called it a victory for every parent worried about social media’s effect on children, casting the ruling as a check on the company’s conduct.
