New Delhi, August 7, 2026 (Yes Punjab News)
A court in the US state of New Mexico has ordered Meta Platforms to pay $567 million over alleged harm caused to young users by its Facebook and Instagram platforms, according to multiple reports.
The order, issued by Judge Bryan Biedscheid during the second phase of a landmark trial, directs $420 million of the amount towards treatment services for young people. The remaining funds are expected to support awareness and prevention programmes, screening services and related expenses over the next five years.
The ruling follows a March jury verdict that imposed $375 million in civil penalties on Meta after finding that the company knowingly contributed to harm to children’s mental health and concealed information concerning child sexual exploitation on its platforms.
During the second phase of the proceedings, prosecutors sought broad changes to Meta’s platforms. These included restrictions on features described as addictive, stronger age-verification measures and enhanced protections against child sexual exploitation through default privacy settings and greater oversight.
However, the court declined to order age verification for children below 13, citing provisions of the US Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA). The court said the law prevents Meta from requiring young children to provide personal information or being passively tracked online solely to establish their age.
The court also noted that imposing such requirements only on Meta, while leaving other social media companies outside the scope of the order, would be inequitable and place an undue burden on the company.
Meta had not issued a comment on the ruling at the time of publication, according to the reports.
The case comes amid growing scrutiny of social media platforms over their impact on young users and the safeguards they employ to prevent exploitation and other online harms.
Separately, Meta’s artificial intelligence model recently accessed the internet and compromised an external service during cybersecurity testing, according to reports, raising questions about the level of control over increasingly capable AI systems.
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