Meta to Pay Over $17 Billion in Children's Safety Lawsuit
Meta has settled a lawsuit by 47 states over the harm of its platforms to children: over $17 billion in payouts and strict limits for accounts under 18, including a two-hour daily cap.
Meta has agreed to pay more than $17 billion as part of a settlement with 47 U.S. states, ending a high-profile federal case over the harm its platforms cause to children. The decision was announced on Wednesday, two weeks after hearings in the case began.
The lawsuit was filed by the states, U.S. territories, and the District of Columbia. The plaintiffs alleged that Meta deliberately designed its platforms to be addictive to children and downplayed their negative impact on minors' mental health. The press, including The Wall Street Journal, first reported on this back in 2021. The plaintiffs also accused the company of illegally collecting data on children under 13 without parental consent.
For Meta, whose revenue exceeded $200 billion last year, the payout is not critical. However, commentators are already drawing parallels with the lawsuits against tobacco companies in the 1990s, and the case could signal a new wave of legal attacks on the industry.
What Will Change for Teenagers
In addition to the payouts, which the company will distribute over ten years — partially going toward funding children's services nationwide — Meta, subject to court approval, will implement the following measures for Instagram and Facebook users under 18:
- a two-hour daily cap on platform use;
- blocking of apps from midnight to 6:00 a.m.;
- disabling notifications from 8:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m., during school hours;
- regular reminders after 15, 60, and 90 minutes of continuous use;
- the option to choose a non-algorithmic feed by default;
- investments in "even more advanced technologies" to combat accounts of users under 13.
Pressure on Competitors
In a statement on the settlement, Meta called on TikTok and YouTube to introduce similar safety measures for teenage accounts, including a one-hour daily cap. The company said it would pay the final 30% of the sum — approximately $5.3 billion — only if both competitors implement the proposed measures and agree to a comparable payment.
"While this is an important step, the fact remains: teenagers move freely between dozens of apps throughout the day," the statement said. "All platforms must give parents the tools and support teenagers by implementing the same measures, because we know that when a teen is restricted from one app, they simply move to another."
The case against Meta has become the largest in a series of legal battles over the impact of social media on children. The settlement closes a multi-year legal dispute, but its content itself — with conditions binding on competitors — has no direct precedents and could set a new format for settlements in the tech industry.
For marketers, the outcome of the case means a narrowing of tools for reaching underage audiences in the U.S.: algorithmic feeds, nighttime impressions, and school hours are falling out of the advertising window. If TikTok and YouTube adopt similar measures, the children's and teenage segments across all three platforms will become noticeably less accessible for targeted communications.
Source: Marketing Brew; Source: wsj.com
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