Meta, the owner of Facebook and Instagram, has been ordered to pay an additional 567 million dollars (£421 million) by a US court for failings in protecting children, a decision UK campaigners say is a consequence of the company's "cavalier approach" to online safety.
The ruling follows a case brought by the state of New Mexico, which the social media company lost in March. Ian Russell, whose 14-year-old daughter Molly took her own life in 2017 after viewing harmful content, gave evidence in the case.
Landmark ruling and its impact
Jurors had already ordered Meta to pay 375 million dollars (£278 million) after finding it knowingly harmed children's mental health and concealed what it knew about child sexual exploitation on its platforms. The new sum, ordered by Judge Bryan Biedscheid, brings the total to 942 million dollars (£698 million). Most of the latest amount, 420 million dollars (£312 million), will be used for treatment services, with the rest going towards awareness, prevention, and screening.
The Molly Rose Foundation, a charity set up by Ian Russell in his daughter's memory, said it expects this ruling "will be the first of many dominoes to fall" as more legal challenges are brought against tech firms.
Campaigners respond
Andy Burrows, chief executive of the Molly Rose Foundation, said: "This landmark fine sends a powerful message that Meta's cavalier approach to children's safety and mental health has consequences, and that tech firms should rightly expect punitive sanctions if they continue to put profit before the safety of young people."
Ellen Roome, from Gloucestershire, who believes her 14-year-old son Jools Sweeney died while attempting an online challenge in 2022, said the ruling is "a big step in the global effort to end the uncontrolled experiment on our children." She added that a judge has "concluded that the damage is so widespread that it must fine Meta nearly a billion dollars in one case alone."
UK implications and Meta's response
Ms Roome argued the UK Government "must take notice" as it develops its social media ban for under-16s, due to come into force by next spring. She said companies "react to force and force alone," so the new age limit regime must be strong enough that compliance becomes the cheaper option.
Meta has vowed to appeal against the ruling. The company said in a statement: "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."
The total penalties faced by Meta are only a fraction of its annual profit, which amounted to around 60 billion dollars (£44.5 billion) in 2025.
