Meta to pay USD567mn fine ordered by New Mexico judge

Meta has been ordered to pay another 567 million US dollars in fines to New Mexico state in the US. This brings Meta's total fines for the case to 942 million dollars, after the first penalty of 375 million dollars was given by a jury in March.

The spokesperson for Meta stated that they disagree with the ruling and will be filing an appeal.

Judge Bryan Biedscheid said the media giant's harms have become a widespread issue of public safety and health. This is the first time a state has successfully sued Meta over child safety issues.

This comes amidst the thousands of lawsuits filed against Meta for similar issues.

Next week, another major trial against Meta begins in California for violating child privacy laws.

The company was found to have repeatedly violated New Mexico's Unfair Practices Act by steering young people towards harmful content like nudity and child sexual exploitation.

Meta has been ordered to put the money in a fund aimed at reducing future harms, within which a vast majority of the money will go towards appropriate clinical or behavioural health programmes and professionals.

In its latest financial results, the media giant earned 61 billion US dollars in revenue from April to June this year alone.