Over the past several years, tech giants have been tied up in court over claims that platforms like Instagram, Snapchat, and TikTok cause youth mental health issues and exploit children.
Since these social media addiction lawsuits began, settlements with and jury awards against Meta, Snap, Google, and others amount to hundreds of millions of dollars. The general legal argument in their claims is that tech companies intentionally designed addictive platforms that hurt younger users.
Though numerous lawsuits have been successful, one crucial issue remained: None of the landmark social media verdicts or settlements involved platform design and operational changes to protect young users from harm. Until yesterday.
A New Mexico judge ordered Meta to pay $567 million to fund youth treatment, prevention and screening programs, but there’s more. For the first time ever, the ruling also included that Meta must make certain changes to its platforms, Facebook and Instagram, and implement safety measures to protect youth.
The ruling aims to fix the damage Meta’s platforms have caused children and teens, while addressing what thousands of lawsuits allege – that the intentional, addictive design of social media causes depression, anxiety, body dysmorphia, suicidal ideation, child exploitation, and other harmful effects to youth.
The judgment in New Mexico followed a $375 million jury verdict against Meta earlier this year, bringing the company’s total financial liability in the state’s case to $942 million.
Perhaps most importantly, the lawsuit may influence thousands of other lawsuits alleging that social media companies designed their platforms in ways that harmed children’s mental health.
The social media ruling in New Mexico could change what Meta’s platforms look like and how they operate for young users in the state.
Meta was ordered to:
- Improve age-assurance technology to better identify and remove users under 13 and delete the data of anyone underage.
- Limit total time spent on their platforms to 90 hours per month.
- Provide more prominent information about its safety tools and protections.
- Restrict push notifications during certain times of the day (late at night, during school).
- Hide the number of likes a user’s post has unless a parent consents to showing it.
- Display banners and informational screens explaining safety features and risks of using their platforms.
- Add AI chatbot safeguards, including preventing minors from sending or receiving nude photos and banning sexualized interactions.
- Block adults from being recommended friends/ connections who are minors.
*Time restrictions, hidden “like” count, and push notification restrictions apply to users under 18.
The state will review changes and an accompanying educational campaign twice a year for five years.
The judge didn’t order Meta to eliminate every feature the state claimed made social media addictive and dangerous to children. Some proposed measures weren’t granted because they raised concerns about tech feasibility, the First Amendment, and federal privacy restrictions.
While the $567 million ruling against Meta isn’t a blanket order that requires the removal of every feature claimed to be addictive, New Mexico pulled off a huge win. Given research has shown that excessive social media use is linked to increased risks of mental health disorders among youth, these types of safety requirements and funding aim to directly address serious risks of harm.
Back in March, the first part of the New Mexico social media case resulted in $375 million in civil penalties against Meta for violating consumer protection laws. The second phase involved the state arguing that Meta’s platforms constituted a public nuisance and focused on specific remedies like safety measures and platform changes to protect younger uses.
The goal was for Meta to be part of the solution for the alleged harm Facebook and Instagram has caused to children and teens.
Ultimately, the Judge ordered Meta to pay $567 million into an abatement fund – money that’s set aside to fix and reduce the negative effects that Facebook and Instagram have had on youth mental health and reduce the risks of child exploitation.
About $420 million will go toward treatment services for children and teens. The remaining money will support prevention, awareness, screening, and related harm-reduction efforts over five years. The judge also ordered Meta to implement a series of youth safety measures and report its progress twice a year.
That distinction is what makes the latest ruling significant. Instead of simply ordering Meta to pay money like the verdict in March, there are specific requirements that address how Facebook and Instagram operate for young users. And it’s this difference that may influence future social media mental health lawsuits.
Though the impact on the first generation to grow up online is glaringly obvious, not to mention serious, parents are struggling with how to protect kids online.
But the most important part of the recent ruling is not the $567 million price tag. It’s the idea that responsibility for children’s online safety may extend beyond parents and schools to the companies that design the platforms children use every day.
And while the judge’s orders only apply to the state, the importance of it also extends beyond New Mexico’s borders. It could give others a roadmap for asking courts to impose similar protections.
The potential impact could be tremendous because there are thousands youth social media addiction and child exploitation lawsuits against not just Meta, but owners of Snapchat, TikTok, and YouTube. Those cases involve families, children, and teenagers who allege social media was designed to encourage compulsive use and exposes young users to harmful content.
Over 1,200 school districts are also suing, claiming the platforms have contributed to a youth mental health crisis that’s depleted their resources. In May, a Kentucky school district reached a $27 million social media settlement with several companies, a victory that’s given hope to others.
Then there are the dozens of state attorneys general that are suing social media companies, many of which are seeking design changes, improved safety features, and reparations to help youth who developed mental health issues.
With the sheer number of social media lawsuits that grow each week, the $567 million judgment in New Mexico could strengthen current cases and put pressure on tech companies to consider how their platforms operate.
These operational changes are something that advocates, government officials, parents, and users have repeatedly said are needed; without altering what contributes to depression, anxiety, body dysmorphia, and suicidal ideation among youth, the nationwide social media addiction and risks of online child sexual exploitation go unchanged.
And if other lawsuits reach similar conclusions, the way America’s children use social media could look very different in the years to come.