Meta is on the hook for nearly $1 billion following a ruling from a judge over child safety concerns. The tech giant behind popular social media apps Facebook and Instagram was ordered last week to pay $567 million to address a youth mental health crisis that the state of New Mexico claimed it helped fuel.
That came on top of a $375 million verdict handed out by a jury as part of the same case in March. The judge has ordered the company to make a number of sweeping changes to its platforms for New Mexico users, including eliminating overnight notifications and imposing mandatory time-use limits for users under 18.
Meta must also fund a statewide education campaign and provide specialized training to New Mexico law enforcement.
“For the first time, a court has ruled that a social media giant can be held liable for building products that endanger children, and has ordered the structural changes needed to fix it,” New Mexico Attorney General Raúl Torrez said in a statement. “New Mexico led the way in the courtroom. It is a blueprint other states, and other countries confronting this same crisis, can now follow.”
Meta plans to appeal the ruling.
Get your free case review today.
Thousands of Social Media Addiction Lawsuits Cleared to Move Forward
Meta and other tech giants are also facing a slew of social media lawsuits claiming that their products were designed to intentionally addict users, leading to severe mental health issues.
This week, a U.S. appeals court cleared the way for those cases to continue to move forward. Meta and TikTok had been attempting to get these cases dismissed, but the court affirmed a prior ruling that the tech companies had appealed too early in the legal process and that the cases should be allowed to play out.
So far, one social media addiction lawsuit involving Meta and Google’s YouTube has advanced to trial. A jury found that both companies had been negligent, ordering them to pay a combined $6 million to a 20-year-old woman who used their platforms from a young age and went on to develop severe mental health issues.
More trials are expected as this litigation advances.
