Legal/Law/Criminal Justice and Reform

Meta Pays $17,000,000,000 Over Harm To Kids On Social Media

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Meta settled Wednesday in its multi-state lawsuit over alleged child social media addiction claims.

The big tech platform agreed to the $17 billion settlement with California, Colorado, Kentucky and New Jersey in People of the State of California, et al. v. Meta Platforms, Inc. in Oakland, California on Wednesday, Axios reported. The deal ends a $1.4 trillion lawsuit with the four states as Meta says it will limit under-18 users to two hours of social media use per day in its platforms.

“Today, we have secured a settlement with Meta that will make social media less dangerous for our kids and make a world of a difference for children and their families,” Democratic California Attorney General Rob Bonta said in a Wednesday press release.

“Meta has agreed to make massive transformations that will reduce the risk of harm from its platforms — and will do it within months. We are talking about time limits, stopping notifications during school, a block on the app during critical overnight hours, bans on plastic surgery filters, and so much more,” Bonta added. 

“I’m pleased to announce that Meta has reached an agreement with a bipartisan group of State Attorneys General from around the country on a new set of rules governing teens’ use of social media. The framework we’ve negotiated will empower parents to easily manage how their children access our platforms,” Meta Chief Legal Officer C.J. Mahoney said in a statement sent to the Daily Caller News Foundation. “Our new Time Limit commitments, Night Mode features and usage limits during school hours, set the right path forward for our whole industry, but this framework will only work if all our peers join us.”

“Because teens move fluidly across dozens of apps, we need an industry-wide solution. We therefore call on our industry peers, TikTok, Snap, and YouTube, to implement this new framework, right away,” Mahoney added. “As a parent, I’m proud of both the work Meta has done to protect kids historically, and of this new groundbreaking agreement. But its success depends on all other social media platforms following Meta’s lead.”

Meta further agreed to restrict children from accessing Facebook and Instagram from midnight to 6 a.m., limit notifications during school hours and give kids the choice of a chronological feed instead of one based on an algorithm, according to the settlement.

“All platforms should empower parents and support teens in these ways because we know that when teens are restricted on one app, they simply move to another. For meaningful progress to happen, we urge our peers to join us,” Meta said in a letter, according to Axios.

Meta called on YouTube and Tiktok to join them in limited children’s social media use.

“We want to ensure teens benefit from this new industry standard, but we cannot do it alone. These protections will only be truly effective if we work with our peers – TikTok and YouTube – to put the same measures in place,” Meta said in the same letter, Axios reported.