A New Mexico court has ordered Meta, the parent company of Instagram and Facebook, to pay $567 million to address harms its platforms have inflicted on young people. The ruling late Thursday by Judge Bryan Biedscheid mandates that $420 million of the total will fund treatment services for youth, with the remainder allocated to awareness campaigns, prevention, screening services, and other costs over the next five years.
This financial penalty follows a March ruling in the first phase of the trial, where jurors ordered Meta to pay $375 million in civil penalties. Jurors found that the company knowingly harmed children's mental health and concealed its knowledge of child sexual exploitation on its platforms.
In the second phase, prosecutors sought fundamental changes to Meta's operations, including reining in addictive features, improving age verification, and enhancing child sexual exploitation prevention through default privacy settings and increased oversight.
Platform Changes Mandated
The court's decision could lead to alterations in the appearance and functionality of Meta's platforms. Judge Biedscheid ordered Facebook and Instagram to implement banner and informational screens that clearly explain protection features, best practices, and tools for addressing inappropriate comments. These explanations will be displayed regularly and subject to review by the state of New Mexico.
A Meta spokesperson stated that the company disagrees with the ruling and intends to appeal. "We work hard to keep people safe on our platforms and have been transparent about the challenges of identifying and removing bad actors and harmful content," the spokesperson said. "We remain confident in our record of protecting teens online and will continue to defend ourselves against claims that misrepresent the facts."
The court noted that federal children's privacy laws, specifically the Children's Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA), prevent Meta from applying age-verification tools to children under 13. COPPA prohibits Meta from requiring children to submit personal data or be passively tracked online, even for age verification. The court also found that ordering Meta to implement age verification solely for its platforms, rather than all social media companies, would be inequitable and unduly injurious to the company.
Instead, Meta has been ordered to continue improving its age assurance tools within New Mexico. These tools utilize artificial intelligence to estimate a user's age based on factors like their social connections and content consumption. Meta is also required to develop a dedicated "under-13-years-of-age prediction model" within the next two years.
Furthermore, Meta must request proof of age for Instagram and Facebook users in New Mexico it estimates to be under 13. If a user is determined to be under 13, or under 18 without a specific age estimation, Meta must treat them as under 13 or under 18 until their age is verified. The company is also directed to partner with schools or a child safety organization to establish a reporting portal for school staff to flag potentially underage users. Meta must also delete personal information collected on users under 13.
The court mandates that Meta submit progress reports on its compliance with these abatement measures twice a year.