Court orders Instagram and Facebook's Meta to pay $567M to address kids' mental health online

Technology Court orders Instagram and Facebook's Meta to pay $567M to address kids' mental health online August 7, 20261:26 AM ET By  The Associated Press FILE - A Meta logo is shown on a video screen at LlamaCon 2025, an AI developer conference, in Menlo Park, Calif., April 29, 2025. Jeff Chiu/AP hide caption toggle caption Jeff Chiu/AP A New Mexico court has ordered Instagram and Facebook parent company Meta to pay $567 million to address harms to young people from its platforms in the second phase of a landmark trial. Judge Bryan Biedscheid said in a ruling late Thursday that the bulk of the money — $420 million — will be used for treatment services for young people. The rest will go toward awareness and prevention, screening services and other costs over the next five years. The new penalty is in addition to the $375 million in civil penalties that jurors ordered against Meta in March after determining the company knowingly harmed children's mental health and concealed what it knew about child sexual exploitation on its platforms. In the second phase, prosecutors asked the judge to impose fundamental changes at Meta aimed at reining in addictive features, improving age verification and preventing child sexual exploitation through default privacy settings and closer oversight. Sponsor Message The total amount Meta is responsible for — $942 million — is a small fraction of of its annual profit, which was about $60 billion in 2025. Investors seemed to shrug off the New Mexico ruling in after-hours trading Thursday, sending Meta's stock down less than half a percent to $589.44. Still, the ruling is another setback for Meta, which faces an avalanche of lawsuits from thousands of families of children harmed by social media. New Mexico Attorney General Raúl Torrez said it sends an unmistakable message that companies will be held accountable when their product designs knowingly put children at risk. "Today's decision is a victory for every parent who has worried ab...