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

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".

Meta is facing lawsuits from thousands of families over similar issues.

Earlier this year, the company, along with Google, was found liable by a court in Los Angeles for a woman's social media addiction in what was hailed as a landmark ruling.

Both companies said they plan to appeal.

A 'public nuisance'

In a statement on Thursday, Meta said: "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."

"We remain confident in our record of protecting teens online and will continue to defend ourselves against claims that misrepresent the facts."

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As part of the latest ruling, Judge Bryan Biedscheid – who said the company had created a "public nuisance" – ordered Facebook and Instagram to clearly display information on their platforms about their protection features, best practices and tools to address inappropriate comment.

Judge Biedscheid also said that, while privacy laws prevent Meta from applying age-verification tools to children under 13, it should continue to improve its age assurance tools – which include using AI to determine someone's age – and look to develop a dedicated "under-13-years-of-age prediction model" within the next two years.

Any changes in New Mexico, however, would be subject to review by the state.

Later this month, another trial against Meta begins in California, where it will face four of the 29 states suing the company in a federal multi-district lawsuit that alleges it knowingly designed features that addict children to its platforms.

(c) Sky News 2026: Meta ordered to pay almost $1bn over child safety failings