Meta Platforms has agreed to pay up to $17.1bn over the next decade and to restrict how teenagers use Facebook and Instagram, resolving claims by nearly all US states that it built the platforms to be addictive to children.
The settlements bring to an end a federal trial in Oakland, California, over allegations that Meta harmed young users and misled the public about the safety of its products. The trial was scheduled to go on for five to six weeks and came to an abrupt end on day seven.
California, Kentucky, Colorado, and New Jersey were expected to seek close to $200bn in civil penalties, reported Reuters.
Under the multistate consumer protection agreement, Meta will pay a minimum of $12.1bn over ten years. That figure rises to $17.1bn if other major social media companies also agree to adopt the same safety measures.
The District of Columbia will receive at least $90.4m and up to $129.3m while New Jersey, which co-led the litigation, will receive at least $525m and potentially more than $752m.
Meta must apply a combined two-hour daily limit across Instagram and Facebook, with automatic pauses after 15 minutes of continuous use and again at 60 minutes and 90 minutes.
The combined daily cap runs for five years. However, if Snapchat, TikTok, and YouTube adopt comparable terms, the limit tightens to 60 minutes per platform and the overall agreement extends to a full ten years.
Access to feeds will be blocked from midnight to 6am, notifications silenced from 10pm to 7am, and weekday push notifications removed between 8am and 3pm during the school year.
Other measures cover age verification, parental controls, protections against bullying, eating disorder and self-harm content, and restrictions on beauty filters and visible “like” counts. An independent auditor will assess implementation.
District of Columbia Attorney General Brian Schwalb said: “Meta intentionally exploited kids for profit and then lied about it, claiming its products were safe when its own internal research confirmed the platforms were addictive and harmful.
“This is a monumental public health victory for young people in DC and across the country, and the safety features Meta is required to install will fundamentally and immediately change how young people use Instagram and Facebook.
“The physical, mental, and emotional harms that intentionally addictive social media platforms inflict on youth — and particularly teenage girls — are widespread across the tech industry, and this successful, coordinated multistate litigation has resulted in Meta being the first platform to come to the table and agree to such comprehensive reforms. It will not be the last.”
The claims followed a bipartisan investigation launched in 2021, with 42 attorneys general suing Meta in October 2023.
Separately, many of the same jurisdictions settled claims over Meta’s sharing of non-public Facebook user data with third parties such as Cambridge Analytica before the 2016 election, for more than $460m.
