Meta agrees to settlement, platform changes in youth addiction case

Meta Platforms has agreed to settle a lawsuit that accused the company of designing Facebook and Instagram in a way that addicted children, misled consumers about safety and collected personal data of children on the platform.

On Wednesday, the social media giant agreed to pay a maximum of $16.68bn as part of a settlement to resolve claims brought in the United States case, championed by a coalition of 29 US states. The case, which started on August 18, was expected to last six weeks.

While 29 states brought the suit, 52 different attorneys general from both states and US territories signed on to the agreement.

US District Judge Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers agreed to suspend the trial and is “inclined” to approve it but needs time to review it.

Meta has also agreed to make changes to Facebook and Instagram nationwide as part of the settlement.

“Meta has agreed to make massive transformations that will reduce the risk of harm from its platforms — and will do it within months. We are talking about time limits, stopping notifications during school, a block on the app during critical overnight hours, bans on plastic surgery filters, and so much more,” California Attorney General Rob Bonta said in a statement.

Among these are daily usage limits of two hours for those under the age of 18, which can only be removed by a parent, and nighttime blocks, among other features. Bonta said time restrictions will drop to one hour if other social media giants agree to similar terms. Meta echoed those calls.

“Because teens move fluidly across dozens of apps, we need an industry-wide solution. We therefore call on our industry peers, TikTok and YouTube, to implement this new framework, right away,” CJ Mahoney, chief legal officer at Meta, said in a release.

The platform will hide likes and reaction counts from users below 18 years and remove cosmetic procedure filters. It will also give teens the option to use a non-personalised feed that does not rely on algorithms to recommend content.

The California Attorney General’s Office said that the Mark Zuckerberg-led company would also identify and remove accounts belonging to children under the age of 13.

“Real accountability and real consequences are the only things that drive meaningful change and help prevent harm before it happens,” the parents’ advocacy group the National Parents Union said in a statement provided to Al Jazeera.

Meta denied any wrongdoing as part of the settlement, which still needs court approval. It had faced up to $1.4 trillion in fines in the case, but the coalition had been seeking a penalty closer to $200bn.

The company will pay the settlement over the course of 10 years and will cost the social media giant $10bn in legal fees alone.

The settlement comes after a loss in a comparable landmark case in New Mexico, where a jury ordered Meta to pay $375m in March and another $567m in August.

Meta’s stock tumbled in early trading on Wall Street but has since rebounded. It is up 2.2 percent for the day.