“Significant numbers of people in New Mexico experience harm from Meta’s products due to risks of sexual exploitation, interference with education, and adverse mental health outcomes,” he wrote. Biedscheid said this harm includes child sexual exploitation in which “an online predator threatens or coerces a child for financial gain, typically involving a threat to expose nude or exploitative imagery of that child.”
“In sum, the Court finds that New Mexico is in the midst of a teen mental health crisis affecting public health and public safety in and throughout the state, and that Meta’s platforms are a significant contributing cause to the crisis,” he wrote.
Fund to cover mental health care
The fund ordered by Biedscheid would include $420 million for treatment, $90 million for screening and assessment, $33 million for awareness and prevention, and $24 million for other costs. Biedscheid rejected a proposal from an expert witness that Meta fund new community-based health centers and said the treatment and related services should be funded for five years instead of the requested 15 years.
“Treatment is a necessary component of addressing harms to mental health and safety,” he wrote. “Any abatement fund must include funding for appropriate clinical or other behavioral health programs and professionals. However, requiring Meta to fund entire new physical facilities goes beyond what remedies are necessary to abate current harm.”
