New Mexico court orders Facebook's parent company Meta to pay $567 million for harms to young people

A New Mexico court ruled on Thursday that Meta, the parent company of Facebook and Instagram, must pay $567 million to address alleged harms to young people. 

Judge Bryan Biedscheid said in a ruling late Thursday that $420 million of that payment will be used for treatment services for young people, PBS reported. 

In March, a jury ordered Meta to pay $375 million in civil penalties, which is now on top of the $567 million payment, after determining that the company knowingly harmed children's mental health and concealed what it knew about child sexual exploitation on its platforms. 

In the second phase of the case, prosecutors asked the judge to require Meta to implement changes to its platforms to minimize allegedly addictive features, improve age verification and prevent child sexual exploitation through default privacy settings and have closer oversight. 

"Today's decision is 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," New Mexico Attorney General Raúl Torrez said in a statement.