Meta ordered to pay $567M by New Mexico court over child mental health harm
Meta helped fuel the state's youth mental health crisis, a judge ruled.
A New Mexico judge has ruled that Meta helped fuel the state's youth mental health crisis through the design of Facebook and Instagram, finding the company created a public nuisance and ordering it to pay $567 million for treatment and prevention programs.
The ruling, filed Thursday in Santa Fe County District Court, found Meta intentionally used features such as endless scrolling, autoplay, notifications and content recommendations to keep users, especially teenagers, on its platforms longer.
The judge said those features contributed to higher rates of depression, anxiety, self-harm, eating disorders and suicide risk among young people. The court also found the platforms contributed to child sexual exploitation and put added pressure on schools, law enforcement and New Mexico's mental health system.
Speaking to reporters on Friday, New Mexico Attorney General Raúl Torrez applauded the ruling, calling it a "historic moment."
The judgment not only helps New Mexico protect online safety but also changes the "narrative in this country and all over the world about whether or not companies of this size and scale can actually be held accountable," Torrez said.
"[Meta] knew about these harms, they weren't forthcoming about the danger, they weren't honest with policymakers, parents and families," Torrez added. "Now they must pay the price for the choice they made to put profits over children’s safety."
In a statement to ABC News, a Meta spokesperson voiced disagreement with the ruling and vowed to appeal.
"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," the spokesperson said.
Torrez, of New Mexico, said he expects the appeals process to play out over a period of months or years, but said his office would "be pressing the court to order the payment of these funds as quickly as possible."
"The longer we wait, the more harm is done to our kids," Torrez added.
The lawsuit was filed in December 2023 by Torrez, who alleged Meta's platforms harmed children and violated state law. Earlier this year, a jury found Meta committed 75,000 violations of the state's Unfair Practices Act and imposed the maximum civil penalty of $375 million.
The judge later ruled the company's conduct also amounted to a public nuisance and ordered Meta to reduce the harm caused by its platforms rather than shut them down.
Under the order, Meta must pay $567 million into an abatement fund. The money includes $33 million for prevention and awareness, $90 million for screening and assessment, $15 million for referrals and care coordination, $420 million for treatment, and $9 million for program oversight and evaluation.
Meta is also preparing for a trial later this month in federal court in Oakland, California, The Associated Press reported. The company will face the first four of 29 states that sued it in a federal multi-district lawsuit filed in 2023 for allegedly contributing to the youth mental health crisis by knowingly designing features on Instagram and Facebook that addict children, according to the suit.
In its statement to the AP at the time, Meta said it shares "the attorneys general’s commitment to providing teens with safe, positive experiences online, and have already introduced over 30 tools to support teens and their families.”
"We're disappointed that instead of working productively with companies across the industry to create clear, age-appropriate standards for the many apps teens use, the attorneys general have chosen this path," it added.
Eight states filed lawsuits in their own state courts. This includes Tennessee, where a trial is currently ongoing.
In March, a Los Angeles jury found Meta and the Google-owned YouTube negligent for designing apps that harmed kids and teens and failed to warn them about the dangers. The jury awarded total damages of $6 million to the plaintiff Kaley. At the time, both companies told ABC News they would appeal the verdict.
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