Meta Faces Massive Fine Over Youth Mental Health Claims
Trouble appears to be mounting for Meta, the parent company of Instagram and Facebook. A court in New Mexico has ordered the company to pay $567 million (₹5,404 crore). The court stated that Meta's platforms are causing harm to young people and ruled that the company must make a payment to address this. This marks the second phase of a significant trial that the social media company had lost in March.
Delivering the verdict late Thursday night, Judge Bryan Biedscheid stated that the majority of the funds would be used for the treatment of young people. The remaining amount will be spent over the next five years on awareness and prevention initiatives, screening services, and other related expenses. Specifically, $420 million (₹4,003 crore) has been allocated for the treatment of youth.
**Allegations against Meta regarding harm to children's mental health**
In the first phase, a jury had ordered a civil penalty of $375 million against Meta. Prior to that order, the court had determined that the social media company knowingly harmed children's mental health and concealed information regarding child sexual exploitation on its platforms. In the second phase, prosecutors urged the judge to mandate fundamental changes at Meta—aimed at curbing addictive features, improving age verification, and preventing child sexual exploitation through stricter default privacy settings and enhanced monitoring.
**Court's observations on age verification**
The court noted that federal children's privacy laws prevent Meta from employing age-verification tools on children under the age of 13. Under the Children's Online Privacy Protection Act, the court cannot order Meta to request personal data from children or track them passively online, even for the purpose of age verification. Furthermore, the court observed that mandating age verification solely for Meta—while exempting other social media companies—would be unfair and excessively detrimental to the company.
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