A Santa Fe judge on Wednesday ordered Meta to create a fund pool of $567 million, accusing its family of apps of contributing to a youth mental health crisis in the state of New Mexico. Chief District Court Judge Bryan Biedscheid has ordered Meta to put this money in a fund to shape-up awareness, screening, and treatment of minors — with $420 million ordered to be set aside for mental health care.
The U.S. court ruled that Meta has created a “public nuisance” by playing a role in New Mexico’s youth mental health crisis. Under the order the Mark Zuckerberg-led company is required to contribute $567 million towards a five-year abatement fund.
The case against Meta was filed by New Mexico’s state prosecutors in December 2023.
Judge Biedscheid further ordered Meta to enforce stern restrictions on minors accessing their Instagram and Facebook accounts. These limitations would include hiding “like” counts, banning unconnected adults from messaging teens, and restricting push notifications during school and sleep hours.
For Instagram, the New Mexico court has asked Meta to keep accounts of minors private by default. The company has also been asked to filter the account recommendations of minors to unknown adults.
Imposing a 90-hour monthly screen-time cap for teens, halting push notifications for teens during school hours, and improving age-assurance tools are among other directives ordered by Judge Biedscheid for Meta to execute going forward.
Source: www.kob.com
Responding to the development, Meta’s communications officer Andy Stone expressed disappointment on the ruling. He said the company will be appealing the decision.
“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,” Stone noted.
The development comes just weeks after the Indian government issued a notice to Meta directing it to disable all ads and content related to Child Sexual Exploitative and Abuse Material (CSEAM) with immediate effect. The notice came following an investigation by the BBC Eye that said Instagram has been running paid ads promoting child exploitation in India, its biggest market.
Meta said it has removed over 160,000 accounts in India for sharing questionable off-platform links linked to child exploitative activities. This week, the social networking giant also issued a formal apology for lapses in the secutity provisions focussing on minors.
Owing to the security and social threats to minors from excessive social media exposure, multiple nations are tightening their oversight on service providers. The UAE, for instance, has limited social media access to minors under 15.
The U.K., Australia, Indonesia, Malaysia, Turkey, and Greece have also recently taken actions to ensure that underaged individuals are protected against online risks posed by social media apps.
