A New Mexico judge has ordered Meta Platforms, parent of Facebook and Instagram, to establish a $567 million “abatement” fund for treatment services aimed at young people harmed by the social media sites. The fund is in addition to the $375 million in civil penalties that a jury ordered earlier.
The ruling by Judge Bryan Biedscheid — who called the two social media sites “a public nuisance” — also ordered Meta to build additional safeguards into its platforms, including a mechanism to limit the time that underage state users can spend on the two apps, as well as hiding the number of “likes” on photos, and adding disclosures about potential harm that can result from frequenting Facebook or Instagram.
Meta immediately said it would appeal. The firm faces potentially thousands of similar lawsuits by states, school districts, and groups of individuals. Next week, a civil lawsuit opens in California with a potential award of $1 trillion in damages.
The lawsuit was brought by New Mexico Attorney General Raúl Torrez, who accused Meta of exposing underage users to sexually explicit images and thus to predators looking to take advantage of them.
New Mexico thus becomes the first state to take a major technology company to trial over child safety claims and prevail, according to the New Mexico Department of Justice.
