Meta has agreed to an $18 billion settlement with 48 state attorneys general, ending a major federal trial over social media’s harm to teenagers and establishing new legal accountability for tech platforms.
As part of the deal, Meta will implement major changes on Facebook and Instagram, including a default two-hour daily time limit for users under 18. The company will also introduce a “night mode” that blocks the apps between midnight and 6 a.m., and a “school mode” that disables push notifications from 8 a.m. to 3 p.m. for underage users. Parents must approve any changes to these settings.
In an unusual structure, Meta will pay only 70% of the settlement unless TikTok and YouTube (owned by Alphabet) also agree to default one-hour daily time limits for underage users and together pay the states about $5.3 billion. Meta would then pay the remaining 30%, another $5.3 billion.
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| C J Mahoney |
“What we have now for the first time is alignment between one of the major social-media platforms and regulators from all over the country about how to deal with this issue,” Meta’s legal chief C.J. Mahoney said.
The settlement, which still requires federal court approval, halts a trial in Oakland, California, that was in its second week. Attorneys general from California, Kentucky, New Jersey, and Colorado had alleged Meta violated state consumer-protection laws and the federal Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act by designing addictive platforms that targeted young users. They sought roughly $200 billion in damages. Instagram head Adam Mosseri had begun testifying, and CEO Mark Zuckerberg was expected to appear.
Meta continues to face thousands of other lawsuits from school districts and individuals using product-liability claims over the design of Instagram and Facebook.