Meta reaches $17B settlement over youth mental health harms

Just over a week into trial, Meta agreed to a settlement with the states suing it for allegedly collecting data on under-13 users and misleading the public about the risks of excessive adolescent social media use, according to court documents.

The company agreed to pay an amount that could reach $16.7 billion, in addition to injunctive relief that could reshape Facebook and Instagram for teens, in exchange for the release of the claims brought against it.

$11.6 billion of that is guaranteed to the states, with the additional payments triggering on a state-by-state basis when other social media platforms implement similar changes.

"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," California Attorney General Rob Bonta said in a statement. "Meta has agreed to make massive transformations that will reduce the risk of harm from its platforms -- and will do it within months. 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.

The settlement requires Meta to verify that users are over the age of 13, as well as impose a series of new limits to the time teens can spend on the platforms. By default, teens will be limited to two hours a day on the platforms and barred from accessing the platforms at night, with notifications blocked receiving notifications during school hours -- all three settings can be changed with a parent's approval. It also requires the company to hide the number of likes and views received by posts, with a parent able to override the control, and implement additional controls on the content that makes its way onto teens' feeds.

In a company statement, Meta said the changes will set a new industry standard for teen safety and urged its competitors TikTok and YouTube to implement similar features.

"I'm pleased to announce that Meta has reached an agreement with a bipartisan group of state attorneys general from around the country on a new set of rules governing teens' use of social media," Meta Chief Legal Officer C.J. Mahoney said in a statement.

"The framework we've negotiated will empower parents to easily manage how their children access our platforms. Our new Time Limit commitments, Night Mode features and usage limits during school hours set the right path forward for our whole industry, but this framework will only work if all our peers join us."

Over two dozen states alleged Meta violated the Children's Online Privacy Protection Act by collecting data on under-13 users without parental consent, while a subset of those alleged the platform misled the public on the risk of teen social media use.

People of the State of California, et al. v. Meta Platforms Inc., et al., 4:23-cv-05448 (N.D. Cal.), is part of In re: Social Media Adolescent Addiction/Personal Injury Products Liability Litigation, 4:22-md-03047 (N.D. Cal., filed Oct. 6, 2022).