Meta Will Pay $17 Billion to Settle Claims It Built Apps to Hook Children
On Aug. 26, Meta agreed to pay up to $17 billion over 10 years and to rebuild how minors use Facebook and Instagram, ending a landmark trial in which a coalition of states accused the company of engineering its apps to hook children and concealing the harm. The proposed settlement, the largest in Meta’s history, still requires a federal judge’s approval.
Meta Platforms has agreed to pay up to $17 billion and to overhaul how young people use Facebook and Instagram, settling a landmark lawsuit brought by a coalition of states that accused the company of designing its apps to be addictive to children. The proposed agreement, announced Aug. 26, would end a closely watched federal trial midway through its second week, NPR reported. It still requires the approval of the judge overseeing the case, PBS NewsHour reported.
A settlement in the trial’s second week
The trial opened Aug. 18 in federal court in Oakland, California, before U.S. District Judge Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers, and had been expected to run into October, PBS NewsHour reported. Under the proposed deal, Meta would pay the states over 10 years — the largest settlement in the company’s history — and adopt a set of enforceable design changes intended to make its platforms safer for minors, NPR reported. California, Colorado, Kentucky and New Jersey represented the larger group of states pressing the case, according to NPR. Judge Gonzalez Rogers must still sign off on the agreement before it takes effect, PBS NewsHour reported.
What the states alleged
The states accused Meta of building Facebook and Instagram to be addictive to young users, knowing the risks the platforms posed to their mental and physical health, and hiding that knowledge from the public, NPR reported. California’s attorney general, Rob Bonta, said the case alleged that the company designed and deployed harmful features that drove compulsive use by children and teenagers, according to the California Department of Justice. “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,” Bonta said in a statement.
What Meta agreed to change
The proposed settlement would require Meta to remake how minors experience its apps. The changes include a default two-hour daily time limit for users under 18 and a nighttime block between midnight and 6 a.m., both of which can be lifted only by a parent; default blocks on notifications overnight and during school hours; a ban on displaying the number of “likes” or reactions on posts made by minors; a ban on cosmetic-surgery image filters for young users; and an option for minors to use a feed that is not personalized by Meta’s recommendation algorithms, according to the California Department of Justice. Meta also agreed to strengthen its age-assurance measures and expand parental controls, PBS NewsHour reported.
A test for a wave of lawsuits
Meta denied the states’ allegations and cast the agreement as a constructive framework, saying the changes would give parents new tools to manage how their children use its platforms, NPR reported. The case is a bellwether in a sprawling body of litigation that has consolidated thousands of similar claims against social-media companies, and its resolution is likely to shape how other suits proceed, PBS NewsHour reported. Bonta described the protections as real, enforceable and immediate, saying they would take effect without further delay, according to the California Department of Justice. The deal now rests with Judge Gonzalez Rogers, whose approval would close one of the most consequential cases yet over how platforms treat their youngest users.