Meta pledges to overhaul kids’ safety protections, pay $17 billion to settle social media case

In a bellwether case for U.S. privacy and kids’ online safety rules, social media giant Meta agreed Monday to pay $17 billion and implement a series of landmark reforms, settling accusations that it knew and hid findings that its Facebook and Instagram apps are addictive.

The settlement, agreed to just days into a civil trial, requires the tech giant to drastically overhaul its approach to how kids use its service. The plaintiffs included nearly every U.S. state and territory. 

The lawsuit also alleged Meta flouted the federal Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA), collecting data from kids 12 and under by relying on self-reported ages instead of facial recognition or other more rigorous age verification tools. 

The lawsuit, spearheaded by California, Colorado, Kentucky and New Jersey, is widely considered a landmark for testing how courts will view social media harms and children. 

“It is an unprecedentedly high number,” California Attorney General Rob Bonta said of the fine at a Wednesday press conference. “It’s the highest financial payment of its kind, way higher than opioids.”

But Bonta said the large payout is nowhere near as important as the staggering range of reforms the attorney generals say Meta will implement.

Meta has agreed to limit time on its apps to two hours per day for users under age 18; block youth from using the platforms between midnight and 6 a.m.; ban users under 18 from seeing “likes” or other reactions to their posts; and bar them from using cosmetic surgery image filters, according to Bonta. The settlement also requires Meta to offer young users the ability to have a “non-personalized” feed that is not shaped by an algorithm.

Default blocks on notifications to users under 18 from 10 p.m. to 7 a.m. and during the school day also will be enforced, Bonta said. A tool for teens to report potentially harmful content will be offered and Meta will be required to respond to 90% of those reports in less than half a day.

The tech giant also agreed to hire an independent auditor with "expansive access to information and resources" and the “right to communicate concerns” with the state attorneys general who brought the lawsuit.

Finally, Meta will be barred from “making further false, misleading, or deceptive statements around its safety features,” according to a Bonta press release.

“This settlement is social media's Big Tobacco moment,” said Jim Steyer, CEO of Common Sense Media, in a statement. “The message to the tech industry is clear: build child safety in, or courts and legislatures will make you.”

Meta likely to decide to settle in the face of mounting lawsuits, recent losses in New Mexico and Los Angeles in similar cases and a recognition that the status quo is not sustainable in a culture where parents are increasingly angry about how tech is affecting their kids, according to James Speta, a professor of law focused on internet policy at Northwestern University School of Law.

“These new restrictions and accountability mechanisms will likely change the experience on Instagram and Facebook, and they are designed to reduce engagement,” Spoto said. “There is no doubt that this is a big deal.”

On Wednesday, Meta also settled with Texas for about $1 billion to resolve similar charges pursued by the state. Many other lawsuits from parents, users and school districts remain ongoing. It is unclear how Meta’s unprecedented settlement in today’s case will impact those cases.

Meta’s final payment obligation will be determined by an unusual arrangement in which the total depends on how many other tech giants — Snap, TikTok, YouTube — accept fines.

The social media giant called upon rival services, singling out TikTok and YouTube, to also work with state law enforcement to develop their own reforms.

“Ensuring teens have a safe and productive experience on our platforms is an absolute imperative for Meta,” the blog post said. “While this is an important step, the fact is that teens move fluidly between dozens of apps a day.”

“For meaningful progress to happen, we urge TikTok and YouTube to join us and state attorneys general in adopting this new standard, to ensure teens use social media in a healthy and responsible way.”

Regardless of what other platforms do, Bonta hailed the agreement as revolutionary.

"Meta has agreed to make massive transformations that will reduce the risk of harm from its platforms — and will do it within months," he said.