Casablanca – Meta has agreed to pay up to $18 billion and make major changes to Facebook and Instagram as part of a settlement ending a landmark US lawsuit over allegations that the platforms harmed and addicted children.
The agreement, announced Wednesday, requires Meta to introduce safeguards including daily usage limits and blocks on app use during overnight hours for teenage users nationwide in the US. California Attorney General Rob Bonta said the changes would also include stopping notifications during school, banning plastic surgery filters and other measures.
The trial in federal court in Oakland, California, had only begun the previous week and was expected to last several weeks. Instead, it ended after four days of proceedings.
California and 28 other states accused Meta of deliberately designing addictive products that hooked young people and contributed to mental health problems including anxiety, depression and suicide. They also alleged that the company collected data from children under 13 without parental permission, in violation of federal and state laws.
Meta denies wrongdoing as part of the settlement and has rejected the allegations throughout the case. The company maintains that the states were seeking an excessive payout.
Bonta said the agreement would make social media less dangerous for children and that Meta had agreed to changes that would reduce risks within months.
The settlement, which still requires court approval, will distribute the $18 billion among the states over 10 years. California is expected to receive between $1.5 billion and $2.1 billion, while Colorado will receive about $615 million.
Meta Chief Legal Officer CJ Mahoney said the new safeguards would only be effective if other social media companies adopted similar measures. He called on TikTok, Snap and YouTube to implement the framework.
Meta, YouTube, TikTok and Snap are facing thousands of similar lawsuits from families, individuals, school districts and attorneys general. Meta and YouTube lost the first related case to reach trial in February and were ordered to pay $6 million to the young woman who brought the lawsuit. TikTok and Snap settled before trial.
Meta also lost a separate case brought by New Mexico’s attorney general and was ordered to pay nearly $1 billion to the state over allegations involving child sexual exploitation on its platforms.
