A New Mexico court has ordered Meta, the parent company of Facebook, to pay $567m into a fund aimed at redressing adverse mental health impacts from the social media giant’s platforms.
The Thursday ruling comes as a part of the second phase of a landmark trial the social media giant lost in March. At the time, a jury found that the company knowingly harmed children’s mental health and concealed what it knew about child sexual exploitation on its platforms, and imposed the maximum penalty : a $375m fine.
The ruling on Thursday is an addition to that fine, bringing the total amount Meta is responsible for to $942m.
Judge Bryan Biedscheid said the bulk of the money – $420m – would be used for treatment services for young people in New Mexico.…