Meta has agreed to pay billions and restrict how teenagers use Facebook and Instagram, settling claims that the platforms were designed to encourage addictive use.
The settlement could be worth approximately $18 billion and ends a federal trial brought by a bipartisan coalition of US attorneys general.
The agreements cover 47 states, Washington, D.C., Puerto Rico, American Samoa and the Northern Mariana Islands, including a separate agreement with Texas.
Meta says its total payment could reach approximately $18 billion. About $12.7 billion will be distributed over 10 years, while the remaining $5.3 billion is contingent on TikTok and YouTube adopting comparable protections and making matching payments.
The settlement was submitted to US District Judge Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers and remains subject to court approval. The deal resolves allegations that Meta deliberately designed its platforms to encourage addictive use among young people, misled consumers about safety and collected data from children without proper parental consent.
Meta denies wrongdoing.
What changes for teen users
Under the agreement, users under 18 will face a default two-hour daily limit across Facebook and Instagram, which they can turn off only with a parent’s permission. The restrictions are expected to take effect within six months if the settlement receives court approval. Meta will also block most teen access from midnight to 6 a.m. and mute push notifications from 8 a.m. to 3 p.m. during school hours, except for direct messages and account security or safety alerts.
Other changes include hidden like counts, blocks on cosmetic surgery and extreme makeup filters, options to disable autoplay and use a non-personalized feed, and prompts after 15 minutes of continuous use and at 60 and 90 minutes of daily use.
Meta also agreed to strengthen age-assurance technology, restrict age-inappropriate content and improve parental controls.
If TikTok and YouTube adopt comparable protections, Meta would reduce its daily limit to one hour per app and extend the overnight block to 10 p.m. through 7 a.m.
A costly deal with wider consequences
The settlement does not require Meta to abandon personalized recommendations or targeted advertising, Reuters reported. That leaves a central part of its engagement-driven business model intact.
Still, the financial and product changes could influence thousands of other lawsuits against Meta, TikTok, YouTube and Snap. Reuters reported that governments and private plaintiffs are pursuing claims alleging social media companies contributed to a youth mental health crisis.
The agreement could therefore become more than a costly settlement for Meta: it may establish a practical template for regulating how major social platforms design products for teenagers.
An independent auditor will review Meta’s compliance and the effectiveness of its safeguards, while a research foundation will use data from consenting users to study teen well-being. For technology companies, the settlement shows that youth safety is becoming a product-design and compliance requirement affecting age-assurance systems, recommendation features, notifications and parental controls — not simply a matter of updating privacy policies.
Read more: A recent New Mexico ruling ordered Meta to pay $567 million and overhaul teen protections on Facebook and Instagram, showing how courts are increasingly treating youth safety as a product-design and compliance issue.
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