A US judge in New Mexico has ordered Facebook and Instagram parent company Meta to pay $567 million and change its user policy in the state after findings revealed that its content was harming the mental health of young users.
This is the second ruling in less than six months in which judges in the state found Meta guilty of several consumer protection violations.
In the earlier case in March, the judges ruled that Meta had violated the state’s consumer protection law by misrepresenting the safety of Facebook and Instagram for young users. Back then, it was ordered to pay $375 million in damages.
After the fresh verdict indicting the company, Judge Bryan Biedscheid said most of the money — around $420 million — will now be used for the treatment of young people. The rest will go towards awareness programmes and screening services over the next five years.
Public prosecutors had asked the judge to impose fundamental changes at Meta aimed at reining in addictive features, improving age verification and preventing child sexual exploitation through default privacy settings and closer oversight.
The latest decision now means that Meta will be forced to change its user policy in the state. The judge directed Meta to flag all inconsistent, derogatory and sexually explicit content regularly through a display banner on its website.
In response, Meta has said that it will challenge the judgement and that it has been working to identify and remove harmful content from its platforms.
“We remain confident in our record of protecting teens online and will continue to defend ourselves against claims that misrepresent the facts,” the company said in a statement.
This isn’t an isolated case. Meta has been accused of violating laws in several countries, including its content moderation policy, which allows people to upload almost anything without facing the law.
Besides, several research studies have revealed that Meta was fuelling hateful content, followed by sexual content, and exposing young teens to criminals and dangers in online spaces, leading to exploitation and mental health-related issues among young users.
Similar reasons were given by countries such as Australia, France and some other Western nations who have imposed a ban on Meta-linked user platforms for young teens.
