A landmark $17.1 billion mult-state settlement with Meta Platforms, Inc.— considered to be the largest state consumer protection settlement in history outside the Big Tobacco settlements of the 1990s – has been announced by state attorneys general, who joined in a lawsuit about dangers to youth on social media platforms.
On top of payments, Meta must put new safety features in place to reduce the time children can spend on Instagram and Facebook, and how they can access and use the platforms.
“The agreement, subject to court approval, resolves claims by 47 States and D.C., Puerto Rico, American Samoa, and the Northern Mariana Islands that the company designed Instagram with addictive features, knowingly exposed young users to serious mental harms, and intentionally misled the public about the safety of its platforms, among other things,” said a press release from West Virginia Attorney General JB MucCuskey.
“Meta knew the dangers it was exposing our children to, all while assuring parents its platforms were safe. That betrayal of trust demanded accountability, and today we’ve delivered it. This settlement isn’t just about the historic payout; it’s about the real changes Meta has now pledged to make to protect our kids online. I’m proud of the bipartisan work of attorneys general across the country who put children ahead of politics to make this happen. As the father of two young daughters, this fight — for our kids and their parents’ peace of mind — is personal. As long as companies continue to target our kids as customers, we will fight to ensure their products are safe and secure,” McCuskey said.
Under the settlement, Meta must make changes to their safety features on Instagram and Facebook, ito include:
— Hard cap daily time limits and “Productive Pauses” for children: for its two platforms, Instagram and Facebook, a combined two-hour daily time limit with mandatory pauses after 15 minutes of continuous use and again at 60 and 90 minutes to interrupt endless scrolling. These limits remain in effect for five years. If Snapchat, TikTok, and YouTube adopt comparable terms, the daily limit on each platform will drop to 60 minutes for 10 years.
— “Nighttime blocks” restricting children’s access from 12:00 a.m. to 6:00 a.m.
— Limited school-time access for children, eliminating push notifications on weekdays from 8 a.m. to 3 p.m. during the school year.
— Robust age assurance measures to more effectively verify the age of young users.
— Safer, age-appropriate content controls, including stronger safeguards against bullying, content promoting eating disorders, and content related to suicide and self-harm.
— Stronger, more user-friendly parental controls.
— Limits on social comparison features, including beauty filters and visible “like” counts, that have been linked to poor mental health outcomes in kids and teens.
According to attorneys, the implementation of these changes will be “regularly assessed by an independent auditor and the settling states.”
Beginning in 2021, nearly every attorney general in the country cooperated to investigate the social media industry for designing and promoting platforms to children and teens despite known harms.
“After a bipartisan, nationwide investigation found that Meta designed Instagram’s features to addict children while internally documenting the resulting mental health harms and failing to warn parents, attorneys general across the country sued Meta individually or as part of a consolidated federal lawsuit. This settlement resolves those cases and claims by the other settling states and territories,” said attorney generals.
The settlement also resolves the states’ claims against Meta for its sharing of nonpublic information about Facebook users with third parties, like Cambridge Analytica, leading up to the 2016 election.
The attorneys general of West Virginia, Alabama, Alaska, American Samoa, Arizona, Arkansas, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, District of Columbia, Georgia, Hawaii, Idaho, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Mississippi, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, Nevada, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, North Carolina, North Dakota, Northern Mariana Islands, Ohio, Oklahoma, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Puerto Rico, Rhode Island, South Carolina, South Dakota, Tennessee, Utah, Vermont, Virginia, Washington, Wisconsin, and Wyoming joined the settlement.
