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Meta ordered to pay almost $1bn over child safety failings

Sky News (via Yahoo Finance) · back to the audit

Meta, the owner of Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp, has been ordered to pay $567m (£421m) to address the harm caused to children on its platforms.

The ruling, handed down by a US judge in New Mexico, stipulates that the bulk of the money – $420m (£312m) – will be used for treatment services for young people, while the rest will go towards awareness and prevention, screening services and other costs over the next five years.

The new penalty is in addition to the $375m (£280m) Meta was ordered to pay in damages after a jury ruled in March that the company had knowingly harmed children's mental health, taking the total to almost $1bn.

Meta has said it disagrees with both rulings and will appeal.

While the total amount Meta has been ordered to pay – $942m (£700m) – constitutes a small fraction of its roughly $60bn (£44.6bn) annual profit in 2025, New Mexico attorney general Raul Torrez said the decision represents 'a victory for every parent who has worried about what social media is doing to their child and every child who deserves to grow up safer online'.