Meta to pay $18 billion and make sweeping app changes to settle social media harms lawsuit

Meta to pay $18 billion and make sweeping app changes to settle social media harms lawsuit

Meta agreed to implement new safety measures, including a default two-hour daily limit for using Facebook and Instagram, for users under the age of 18

On Wednesday Meta agreed to pay almost $18 billion and implement a host of new safety features for children to settle a long-running lawsuit, filed by dozens of states, that alleged the company’s products harm children. Meta denied all wrongdoing.

The lawsuit was initially filed in 2021 by a bipartisan group of attorneys general from 29 states; 18 more states, as well as several U.S. territories and districts, joined later. The lawsuit alleged that Meta designed and deployed features it knew could have a negative effect on young users and that the Mark Zuckerberg–run company misled the public about those risks.

Virginia’s state attorney general Jay Jones said in a statement that the settlement will “put an end to these dangerous practices and deliver meaningful relief that will protect children from online harm.”

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Alongside the financial penalty, the agreement requires Meta to implement new safety features across its platforms. These include a default time limit of two hours per day on Facebook and Instagram for all users under the age of 18, as well as prompts after every 15 minutes of continuous use. Apps will also be restricted by default for minors between the hours of midnight and 6 A.M. It's unclear how exactly Meta will change its apps in order to roll out these features.

The company will also turn off push notifications on children's accounts during school hours, and do more to verify users’ ages. Meta will also implement stronger safe guards against cyberbullying and to block content promoting harmful behaviors. It will also hide likes on teens' and other accounts' posts by default.