Penalty for Meta after New Mexico Case Loss

Meta has been ordered to pay $567 million to support youth mental health services in New Mexico as part of a significant child safety trial.

In March, a jury in New Mexico found Meta liable for misleading consumers regarding the safety of its platforms, directly endangering children. This ruling led to a substantial financial penalty.

At that time, the court imposed the maximum fines for each breach of New Mexico’s consumer protection laws, totaling $375 million.

On Thursday, a New Mexico judge imposed an additional financial penalty after determining that Meta contributed to a mental health crisis among teenagers in the state. The funds will be allocated to provide treatment for affected young individuals and support mental health prevention and awareness initiatives.

“For years, Meta was aware that its platforms were detrimental to New Mexico’s youth, exacerbating a mental health crisis and facilitating connections between predators and children. Yet, the company prioritized engagement and profit over the safety of our children,” stated Attorney General Raúl Torrez. “Today, Meta is being held accountable for that decision.”

Overall, Meta is liable for nearly $942 million in total penalties.

Andy Stone, Meta’s vice president of communications, expressed the company’s disagreement with the ruling in a statement on X, announcing plans to appeal the decision.

“We are committed to ensuring the safety of our users on our platforms and have been open about the difficulties of identifying and removing harmful actors and content,” the statement read. “We are confident in our track record of protecting teenagers online and will continue to challenge claims that distort the facts.”

To establishing a fund to mitigate these harms, Chief Judge Bryan Biedscheid mandated that Meta implement specific safety features. These include preventing any account belonging to a user under 18 from being recommended to adults and restricting minors from engaging in romantic or sexual exchanges with Meta’s AI chatbots.

Last year, Reuters reported that Meta’s policies permitted chatbots to “engage a child in romantic or sensual conversations.” These guidelines have since been removed. In January, Meta temporarily disabled access to its AI characters for teenagers while they awaited an “updated” experience tailored for them.