A New Mexico judge has ordered Meta, the parent company of Instagram, Facebook, and WhatsApp, to pay an additional $567 million in a ruling concerning child safety. The judge determined that the social media giant failed to adequately warn the public about the dangers its platforms present to children, marking the largest such penalty against the company.
Judge Bryan Biedscheid declared Meta a "public nuisance," drawing a parallel to air pollution, and mandated that the funds be directed to a program designed to mitigate future harm. This latest judgment is in addition to a previous $375 million penalty Meta was ordered to pay in the same case. Meta has stated its intention to appeal the earlier verdict.
In his ruling, Biedscheid likened Meta's operations to a factory. He described advertising and content as the factory's product, with the "psychological harm and sexual exploitation of children to be the pollution that must be abated." The company has been contacted for comment.