Meta agreed to pay $17.1 billion today to settle with 52 attorneys general who claimed the company intentionally addicts children to social media.
The landmark agreement requires the social media company make gargantuan changes to Facebook and Instagram, including limiting some of the apps’ most lucrative features.
Attorneys filed the settlement agreement in U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California on Wednesday morning. If Judge Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers approves it, as expected, it will end the federal social media addiction trial which began just last week.
Meta’s $17.1 billion payment is broken into several smaller sums. The company will pay as much as $16.68 billion to 47 states, the District of Columbia and three U.S. territories in equal amounts over the next 10 years. The payment will resolve the states’ allegations Meta designed Facebook and Instagram to be addictive.
The company will pay an additional $0.49 billion to 38 states and two U.S. territories to resolve allegations it improperly sold Facebook users’ private data to third parties.
Meta also made a separate, more than $1 billion settlement with Texas on Wednesday. The agreement evidently preempts a lawsuit from Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton, who began investigating Meta under the state’s Deceptive Trade Practices Act in November 2021. Paxton has already won several large settlements from Meta.
Meta’s settlement money will go, in large part, toward preventing and healing harm caused by social media.
The multi-state settlement requires Meta make sweeping changes to its platforms, many of which are echoed in Texas’ agreement.
To protect minors, the company must first accurately estimate users’ ages. The settlement requires Meta communicate with tech manufacturers like Apple and Google to access more accurate information.
Meta must immediately remove any user flagged as under 13 years old. Users under 18 will automatically receive new default protections, like:
Daily two-hour time limits on Meta apps.
Blocks on Meta apps between midnight and 6:00 a.m.
Blocks on push notifications during the school day, from 8:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m.
Hiding likes and reactions on posts.
Blocks on filters which edit users’ faces to show heavy makeup or plastic surgery lines.
Parents can lift or adjust many of these limits using Meta’s parental controls, which the company must strengthen and make more user-friendly.
But, for the first time, parents and teens can also disable some of the apps’ most addictive features. Meta must allow users to turn off:
Autoplay, which queues videos to play automatically.
Content-recommendation algorithms, which curate content based on the user’s interests, likes and dislikes.
The settlement also requires Meta to start reminding minors how long they’ve been on Facebook and Instagram. After every 15 minutes of continuous use, the apps will interrupt the teen with a reminder to use social media responsibly.
Similar alerts will pop up when a minor uses Meta apps for an hour and an hour and a half in one day.
In a press release announcing the agreement, Meta also committed to communicate more frequently with parents, writing it would alert parents when their child:
Links to a second account.
Interacts with a suspicious account.
Tries to disable or get around parental controls.
The changes outlined in the settlement are undeniably groundbreaking and encouraging. But parents shouldn’t view the agreement as a sign social media is safe.
Some of Meta’s participation, and multi-state payout, hinges on whether other social media companies, like Snap, TikTok and YouTube, will adopt the same safety standards.
“We want to ensure teens benefit from this new industry standard, but we cannot do it alone,” Meta’s press release reads. “These protections will only be truly effective if we work with our peers, TikTok and YouTube, to put the same measures in place.”
Meta’s point is well-taken — how effective will restrictions on Facebook and Instagram be if teens can just spend more time on TikTok?
But the company also made industry participation part of its agreement with the states. The first $12.7 billion of the company’s $17.1 billion settlement is guaranteed to the states. It only has pay the remaining $5.3 billion if YouTube and TikTok:
Implement a one-hour daily time limit.
Limit access to their apps from 10 p.m. to 7 a.m.
Spend more time and resources estimating users’ ages.
Each pay $5.3 billion.
If other social media companies agree to participate, Meta agrees to abide by the same longer nighttime restrictions and shorter daily usage limit.
If Snap, YouTube and TikTok don’t join in, however, Meta only has to abide by its two-hour daily time limit and “responsible usage” alerts for five years — half the length of the rest of the settlement.
Parents should also know that Meta’s daily time limit, nighttime restrictions and school hour restrictions don’t apply to direct messages. So, if your child is using Instagram and Facebook’s messaging features, they will still be able to effectively text with no limits.
The direct messaging loophole illustrates why parents must stay engaged. Meta’s capitulation today signals a watershed moment, a moment when Big Tech bent to the will of the people.
But Meta is still Meta. It does not have a record of keeping children safe. These changes, while hopeful, do not make social media a safe place for children.
Additional Articles and Resources
Counseling Consultation & Referrals
PluggedIn Parents’ Guide to Technology
Parenting Tips for Guiding Your Kids in the Digital Age
Four States Sue Meta for Allegedly Making Social Media Addictive for Kids
New Mexico Accuses Meta of Egregious Harm to Children in Court Case
Social Media Addiction Suits got to Trial — Here’s What You Need to Know
Instagram’s Sextortion Safety Measures — Too Little, Too Late?
Key Takeaways From Zuckerberg’s Tell-All
Zuckerberg Implicated in Meta’s Failures to Protect Children
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