ISTANBUL, Aug 7 (Bernama-Anadolu) -- A New Mexico state judge ordered Meta on Thursday to pay US$567 million into a child mental health fund and strengthen protections for children's accounts, Anadolu Ajansi (AA) reported, citing CNN.
The ruling seeks to hold the social media company accountable for its role in a youth mental health crisis.
Meta has faced allegations that its platforms have harmed children, along with multiple lawsuits across the US.
The judge also ordered Meta to delete the accounts of users under the age of 13 along with all personal information collected from those accounts.
Teen accounts in New Mexico must also be set to private by default.
In addition, the company must disable push notifications for users under 18 from 8 am to 3 pm on weekdays during the school year and from 10 pm to 7 am on all other days.
The ruling came in the second phase of a two-part trial.
During the first phase, a jury found in March that Meta had misled users about the dangers associated with its platforms and ordered the company to pay US$375 million in damages.
The second phase examined whether Meta's platforms constituted a “public nuisance.”
“Just as noxious pollution produced by the factory can harm the common public right to reasonably clean air, the harmful effects of Meta’s platforms on children do not stay contained by its platforms,” the judge reportedly said during Thursday's ruling.
“Instead, (they) migrate to the internet as a whole and, perhaps most concerning, to the real world and create a common, societal burden on and harm to the affected children and their families and schools, as well as hospitals and law enforcement,” the judge added.
Meta said it disagrees with the ruling and plans to appeal.
-- BERNAMA-ANADOLU