Meta Fined Nearly $1bn over Harming Children
Meta Fined Nearly $1bn over Harming Children
“Just as noxious pollution produced by the factory can harm the common public right to reasonably clean air, the harmful effects of Meta’s platforms on children do not stay contained by its platforms.”
A court has ordered Meta to pay an additional $567mn in compensation, on top of a $375mn fine the company was ordered to pay in March, to address the harm their apps cause children. The company has also been ordered to increase the safety features on its apps.
The lawsuit was brought forward by New Mexico’s attorney general in 2023. It accused Meta of exposing children to sexually explicit content, human trafficking and solicitation. The earlier ruling found that by designing recommendation algorithms that push harmful content on young people, Meta had violated New Mexico’s Unfair Practices Act. The most recent ruling determined that Meta had also violated the state’s public nuisance law by adding to the youth mental health crisis and facilitating child sexual exploitation.
A Meta spokesperson said that the company would file an appeal, and also added: “We work hard to keep people safe on our platforms and have been transparent about the challenges of identifying and removing bad actors and harmful content. We remain confident in our record of protecting teens online and will continue to defend ourselves against claims that misrepresent the facts.”
Judge Bryan Biedscheid put it this way: “Just as noxious pollution produced by the factory can harm the common public right to reasonably clean air, the harmful effects of Meta’s platforms on children do not stay contained by its platforms. [These apps] create a common, societal burden on and harm to the affected children and their families and schools, as well as hospitals and law enforcement.”
$420 million of the fines are going to go towards treatment programs for affected families and communities, and extra funding for prevention efforts. On top of the money, Meta now has to change how it runs Facebook, Instagram, and WhatsApp, by adding stronger protections for teenagers, actually checking whether kids under 13 are using accounts, and banning its AI chatbots from having romantic or sexual interactions with minors.
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