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Menlo Park-based Meta agreed to pay up to $17 billion and to make changes to its platforms to end a major case on children and social media addiction.
California will receive up to $2.1 billion if the settlement is approved by a judge, according to an Aug. 26 statement from the Attorney General Rob Bonta. Meta will agree to a payment of more than $12 billion, with an increase up to the $17 billion over 10 years if other social media companies settle related claims, the New York Times reported.
A group of 47 states led by the attorneys general of California, Colorado, Kentucky, and New Jersey accused Meta, the parent company of Facebook and Instagram, of engineering their products to be addictive to children.
Despite knowing its products could damage kids’ mental health, the attorneys general said, Meta continued to promote them, even as its own research showed the harms. The case has been compared to past litigation against Big Tobacco, and was seen as a major test of similar litigation tech companies face around the United States.
“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 the statement.
A Meta spokesperson did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Opening statements in the suit started just last week in an Oakland federal court, with a weekslong trial anticipated. The case was among the largest in a series of bellwether cases testing claims that major tech companies deliberately marketed products to children, even as those products damaged their mental health.
Earlier this year, Meta and Google were found liable by a Los Angeles jury in a suit that tested similar claims. Meta lost another, similar suit in New Mexico this year as well. Those cases are still pending. But today’s settlement eclipses any legal challenge so far.
Lexi Hazam and Previn Warren, attorneys who have represented families and school districts in other litigation against tech companies, praised the ruling in a statement, calling it “a major step toward holding Meta accountable for the harm its platforms have caused young people.”
Meta continues to face claims from parents and school districts around the country. Google, Snap, and TikTok are among the other companies facing similar suits.
“We will not rest until every one of these plaintiffs sees justice for the harms caused by all of the defendants’ platforms,” Hazam and Warren said.
Under the terms of the deal, which still must be approved by a judge, Meta will change how it operates its platforms. The California attorney general noted that the changes would include a daily time limit of two hours for users under 18, or one hour if other social media platforms also agree to limits.
The settlement would also stop the platforms from displaying likes or reactions to users under 18, and teens would receive new mechanisms for reporting harmful content. Meta, under the terms, would agree to respond to 90% of those reports within six hours. The company will also cease sending notifications to underage users overnight or during typical school hours.
Meta will also broadly review and improve safety protections for teens.
“Meta has agreed to make massive transformations that will reduce the risk of harm from its platforms — and will do it within months,” Bonta said in his office’s statement. “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.”
