Meta to Pay Billions in Addiction Settlement
Meta has agreed to pay up to $18 billion to settle a lawsuit over claims that its platforms, including Instagram and Facebook, were designed to addict children. The agreement, which was confirmed in court filings and a Meta blog post, ends a trial that began on August 18 in Oakland and was expected to run through early October.
The case, which was initially filed by 29 states in 2023, alleged that Meta built features such as infinite scroll, push notifications, and recommendation algorithms to maximize the amount of time kids spent on its apps. The lawsuit also claimed that Meta misled the public about the harm caused by its platforms and collected children’s data without parental consent, violating the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA).
The settlement, which covers 47 states, DC, and several territories, requires Meta to overhaul how minors use Instagram and Facebook. The changes include a combined 2-hour daily limit across both platforms, which will be enforced by default and can only be lifted by a parent. The limit resets at midnight and tracks time cumulatively across multiple accounts, excluding messaging and long-form content.
Additional changes include “Productive Pauses,” which are forced interruptions after 15 minutes of continuous scrolling, as well as a default access block from midnight to 6am and notifications off from 10pm to 7am. Meta will also hide like and reaction counts by default and ban “beauty” and cosmetic-surgery filters for minors.
The settlement has been hailed by some as a major consumer-protection win, with Forrester’s Kate Winick calling it the largest penalty a social platform has faced to date. Others are less convinced, with Minda Smiley from Emarketer arguing that the changes don’t appear to be incredibly drastic and may not go far enough.
Meta’s Legal Officer C.J. Mahoney said that the deal’s success depends on other social media platforms following Meta’s lead, as teens may simply move to another app if they are restricted on one. Meta has published an open letter pushing TikTok and YouTube to match its terms, but neither company has responded publicly as of yet.
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They are coming off surviving an FTC antitrust case last year that could have forced a breakup. This is Meta’s third major child-safety loss this year, following a $942 million penalty in New Mexico and a $4.2 million fine in Los Angeles. Meta is appealing both of these decisions.
Meta owes a guaranteed $12.1 billion over the next decade to the settling states, with up to $5 billion more becoming payable if YouTube and TikTok agree to pay roughly $5 billion of their own and adopt comparable rules. California expects to receive between $1.5 billion and $2.1 billion, while Maryland is due up to $327 million and DC is due between $90.3 million and $129.3 million.
As part of the settlement, Meta will be required to implement tighter age verification, improved parental controls, and independent auditor oversight for the next 10 years. The company will also be subject to regular checks to ensure compliance with the settlement terms.
Meta will be closely watched in the coming years to ensure it complies with the terms of the settlement. The settlement marks a significant development in the case.
The settlement does not require Meta to turn off algorithmic recommendations by default, and targeted advertising to teens will continue largely untouched. The chronological feed will be opt-in, not the standard experience, which may limit its impact.
Users can control their game access in various ways.
