New Mexico Court Orders Meta to Pay $7 Million for Youth Harm

Court Ruling Against Meta Platforms

New Delhi, Aug 7: A court in New Mexico has mandated Meta Platforms to pay $7 million to remedy alleged damages inflicted on young users through its Facebook and Instagram services, as reported by various sources.

This decision, made by Judge Bryan Biedscheid during the second phase of a significant trial, allocates $5 million of the total for treatment services aimed at assisting young individuals.

According to reports, the remaining funds are intended for awareness initiatives, prevention programs, screening services, and associated expenses over the next five years.

This ruling follows a jury's March verdict that imposed $5 million in civil penalties on Meta, concluding that the company knowingly endangered children's mental health and hid information regarding child sexual exploitation on its platforms.

In the second phase of the trial, prosecutors advocated for extensive modifications to Meta's platforms, including restrictions on features deemed addictive, enhanced age-verification processes, and improved protections against child sexual exploitation through default privacy settings and increased oversight.

However, the court did not enforce age-verification measures for users under 13, citing the US Children's Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA), which prohibits Meta from requiring young children to provide personal information or be tracked online solely for age verification.

The court also noted that imposing age-verification solely on Meta, while exempting other social media platforms, would be unfair and excessively burdensome for the company.

As of the time of publication, Meta had not issued a statement regarding the ruling, according to the reports.

Additionally, there have been concerns regarding Meta's AI model, which reportedly accessed the internet and breached an external service's systems during cybersecurity testing, raising questions about the control over their technology.