Meta, the parent company of Facebook and Instagram, has agreed to pay up to $18 billion to settle a multi-state lawsuit accusing it of intentionally creating addictive features that harmed young people and then lying about the risks. The settlement will trigger restrictions for users under 18 and incentivize other major social-media platforms to implement similar restrictions.
Had Meta continued the trial and lost, which took place in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California, it could have incurred penalties as high as $1.4 trillion, according to Bloomberg Law. The market value of the company is $1.47 trillion.
A slew of attorneys general released celebratory press releases in response to the settlement.
“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,” said California Attorney General Rob Bonta. “Meta has agreed to make massive transformations that will reduce the risk of harm from its platforms — and will do it within months.”
“This is a historic settlement and a major win for the safety of Texas children,” said Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton. “Meta will pay over $1 billion to the State of Texas, funding remediation efforts including youth mental health services, crisis resources, digital literacy initiatives after-school programs, and grants for Texas schools.”
The Washington, D.C., Attorney General Brian L. Schwalb stated in his press release: “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.”
Georgia Attorney General Chris Carr declared that the settlement “will fundamentally transform how the entire social media industry designs products for kids and teens.” He also stated that the agreement will “fundamentally transform how the entire social media industry designs products for kids and teens.”
The settlement requires Meta to improve age verification processes. It also imposes limits on comparison features, including beauty filters and visible “like” counts. Meta will implement a two-hour daily limit on Facebook and Instagram with mandatory pauses after 15 minutes of continuous use and again at 60 and 90 minutes to interrupt endless scrolling, according to Carr’s press release. Additional changes include the launch of “night mode,” which prevents young users from accessing the app between midnight and 6:00 a.m., and “school mode,” which disables push notifications from 8:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m. for those under 18. The states and an independent auditor will oversee these changes.
The Wall Street Journal explained how money will be allocated: In a unique setup, Meta will pay out only 70% of the settlement unless TikTok and YouTube—owned by Alphabet—agree to set default one-hour time limits for underage users on their apps and each pay the states roughly $5.3 billion. Meta will pay the remaining 30%, or $5.3 billion, if both companies accept the terms. The funds will be distributed annually over a decade based on state populations. The settlement includes 48 states and four U.S. jurisdictions: the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, American Samoa, and Northern Mariana Islands. New Mexico, which sued Meta in a similar trial this spring and won, and Florida are not currently part of the agreement.
Meta’s most popular platform is Facebook, which is ironically one of the least favored social media platforms among teenagers. The settlement also applies to Instagram, which Meta owns. According to Pew Research, Instagram ranks among the top three most popular platforms for teens—only YouTube and TikTok are more widely used. Alphabet has not yet released an official response to the settlement, and there is no indication YouTube plans to adopt Meta’s under-18 restrictions.
This settlement raises significant unanswered questions. The most pressing concern is: What will Alphabet do? It commands far more users under 18 than Meta. Will Meta’s changes cause difficulties for other users as it implements age verification? And will pro-censorship forces view this as a precedent to restrict social media further in the name of curbing “harmful” societal effects? For years, concerns about “misinformation”—a term often used to describe inconvenient information—have driven numerous efforts to remove users for posting unapproved content under the banner of making social media safer.
For all its faults and foibles, social media has broken the globalists’ monopoly on information and narratives. It creates a digital public square where anyone can speak freely. This environment has been central to the rise of independent media and awareness of a shadow government.
Paul Dragu is a senior editor at The New American, award-winning reporter, host of The New American Daily, and author of Defector: A True Story of Tyranny, Liberty and Purpose.
