Meta hit with almost $1 billion legal blow

Meta has been ordered to pay nearly $1 billion after a landmark US court ruling found the social media giant failed to protect children from harmful effects linked to its platforms.

A New Mexico judge ordered Facebook’s parent company to contribute $567 million to a fund aimed at tackling the mental health consequences associated with Instagram and Facebook use among young people.

The decision comes on top of a previous $375 million penalty imposed after a jury found in March that Meta knowingly harmed children’s wellbeing and concealed information about child sexual exploitation risks on its platforms.

The combined liability now stands at $942 million, marking one of the most significant legal blows yet against a major technology company over online child safety.

Judge Bryan Biedscheid said around $420 million of the new funding would be directed towards treatment services for young people in New Mexico. The remaining money will support prevention campaigns, screening services and other child protection measures over the next five years.

The case followed allegations that Facebook and Instagram had become environments where children were exposed to grooming, exploitation and addictive design features. Prosecutors argued Meta prioritised user engagement and advertising revenue while failing to adequately address risks identified internally.

During the trial, former content moderators claimed they had repeatedly flagged concerns about child exploitation material but that some cases were not escalated effectively.

The court has now ordered Meta to introduce additional safeguards, including clearer warnings and information screens explaining safety tools, privacy settings and ways to report harmful content.

Meta must also strengthen its age-assurance technology in New Mexico, using artificial intelligence systems that analyse signals such as social connections and viewing behaviour to estimate whether users are children.

Under the ruling, if Meta believes a user may be under 13, or cannot confidently determine whether someone is under 18, the company must apply stricter protections until age verification is completed.

The company must also create a reporting system allowing schools and child safety organisations to flag suspected underage accounts, while deleting personal information collected from users under 13.

New Mexico Attorney General Raúl Torrez described the ruling as a victory for parents concerned about the impact of social media on children.

“This case has always been about protecting children,” he said, arguing that technology companies should not profit from systems that expose young users to harm.

Meta rejected the ruling and said it would appeal, arguing that the case misrepresented its safety efforts.

Despite the size of the penalty, the financial impact is limited compared with Meta’s annual profits, which reached tens of billions of dollars. However, the ruling adds to mounting legal pressure as governments and families across the United States continue challenging the influence of social media on children’s mental health.