Court orders Instagram and Facebook's Meta to pay $567M to address kids' mental health online
- A New Mexico court has ordered Meta to pay $567 million to address harms to young people from its platforms.
- The majority of the funds, $420 million, will be allocated for treatment services for young people.
- This ruling follows a previous $375 million penalty imposed on Meta for knowingly harming children's mental health.
- Meta plans to appeal the decision, asserting its commitment to user safety and transparency.
- The total financial responsibility for Meta now amounts to $942 million, a small fraction of its annual profit.
A New Mexico court has ordered Instagram and Facebook's parent company Meta to pay $567 million to address the harms caused to young people by its platforms. The ruling, issued by Judge Bryan Biedscheid, allocates $420 million for treatment services for young people, with the remainder directed towards awareness, prevention, and screening services over the next five years.
This order is in addition to a previous $375 million civil penalty imposed on Meta in March, after a jury found that the company knowingly harmed children's mental health and concealed information regarding child sexual exploitation on its platforms. The total amount Meta is now responsible for is $942 million, which represents a minor fraction of the company's annual profit of approximately $60 billion.
New Mexico Attorney General Raúl Torrez stated that the ruling sends a clear message that companies will be held accountable for product designs that knowingly put children at risk. Meta has announced its intention to appeal the ruling, asserting its commitment to maintaining safety on its platforms and addressing the challenges of harmful content. The court has also mandated that Meta implement changes to improve age verification processes and enhance user safety features.
法院命令Instagram和Facebook母公司Meta支付5.67亿美元以应对儿童心理健康问题
新墨西哥州法院命令Instagram和Facebook的母公司Meta支付5.67亿美元，以应对其平台对年轻人造成的伤害。法官布莱恩·比德施海德的裁决将4.2亿美元分配用于年轻人的治疗服务，其余资金将在未来五年用于意识提升、预防和筛查服务。
这一命令是在三月份对Meta处以3.75亿美元民事罚款之后作出的，陪审团裁定该公司明知会对儿童心理健康造成伤害，并隐瞒了有关儿童性剥削的信息。Meta目前需承担的总金额为9.42亿美元，这仅占其约600亿美元年度利润的一小部分。
新墨西哥州检察长拉乌尔·托雷斯表示，这一裁决传达了一个明确的信息，即公司将对其产品设计中故意使儿童处于风险的行为负责。Meta已宣布计划对此裁决提出上诉，强调其致力于维护平台安全并解决有害内容的挑战。法院还要求Meta实施改进年龄验证流程和增强用户安全功能的变更。