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See the full story · 30 sourcesAgreement represents the largest ever Big Tech settlement, and will force Meta to introduce sweeping restrictions on its platforms
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Meta will pay up to $17.1 billion and make sweeping changes to Instagram and Facebook to settle a major US court case .
The company has been fighting a lawsuit against the attorneys general of 29 US states, who accused it of knowingly damaging young people’s wellbeing with its platforms.
Now, the two sides have reached a settlement that commits Meta to bring in a host of changes, including daily limits and nighttime blocks on teenagers’ accounts on Instagram and Facebook. Young people will also be blocked from being able to see the number of likes or reactions to posts.
In advance of the case, it had been hailed as a major opportunity for Meta and its chief executive Mark Zuckerberg to answer claims that it had harmed children. The hearings had already brought a series of dramatic accusations, including claims that Meta had deliberately hidden evidence of the ways that its platforms were damaging young people’s mental health.
But, overnight, reports suggested that Meta and states attorneys general were working towards a mid-trial settlement that would bring the hearings to an end. Meta, which has always denied the claims in the case, did not admit to wrongdoing as part of the newly announced settlement.
The major case is just one part of a range of legal actions and regulatory investigations into Meta. States, local governments, school districts and individuals have alleged that Meta and other social media companies fueled a nationwide youth mental health crisis.
Those behind the case hailed the settlement as a major success – and suggested that more, similar actions are likely to come in the future. They hailed it as the largest settlement against Big Tech ever, and the biggest consumer protections agreement of its kind in history outside of the Big Tobacco settlements of the 1990s.
“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,” said Brian L Schwalb, attorney general for the District of Columbia. “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 settlement requires Meta to pay at least $12.1 billion to resolve the lawsuits, over a period of ten years. That could increase by another $5 billion, depending on agreements with other major social media companies.
It also forces Meta to bring in a host of changes to its platforms, aimed at protecting the young people who use them. They include a host of restrictions on when and how the sites can be used, as well as blocks on certain features and new tools to allow parents to help ensure their children’s safety.
Instagram and Facebook will limit children’s use of Instagram and Facebook together to two hours a day, with pauses every 15 minutes to interrupt people who are continuously scrolling. Those limits will last for five years, but will drop to 60 minutes for 10 years if Snapchat, TikTok and YouTube adopt similar rules.
Children will also be blocked from accessing the sites overnight. They will be banned between midnight and 6am, and notifications will be silenced between 10pm and 7am.
Children will also be limited in their access to the apps through the school day. The services will not be able to send push notifications to children between 8am and 3pm during the school year.
The company must also introduce better checks to verify the age of young users, and increased content controls to ensure that young people are protected from content about bullying, eating disorders, and suicide and self-harm. Meta must also introduce stronger and more user-friendly parental controls as well as limiting access to features such as beauty filters and “like” counts that encourage unhealthy social comparison between young people.
Meta’s implementation of those features will be regularly checked by an independent auditor to ensure they are working, the settlement says. That process will be overseen by the states that have reached the settlement.
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