How Meta’s $17.1 Billion Settlement Will Change Social Media
The company decided to settle rather than go to trial against four states who claim the platform endangers children.
Meta has reached an $18 billion settlement and agreed to implement significant changes to its platforms to address allegations from most U.S. states that the social media networks were intentionally designed to addict children and misled users about their safety. Over the course of a decade, teenagers will be restricted to a maximum of two hours of usage per day, with access prohibited from midnight to 6 a.m. without parental approval.
However, Meta will retain the ability to utilize personalized recommendations and targeted advertising on the platform.
The settlements encompass more than $17.6 billion in payments to 48 U.S. states, Washington D.C., Puerto Rico, American Samoa, and the Northern Mariana Islands. California will receive the largest portion, amounting to $2.2 billion, while New York and Texas will collectively receive over $1 billion each. Some of the compensation is contingent upon Alphabet's YouTube and ByteDance's TikTok implementing similar safeguards for children.
Approval for the settlement is pending U.S. District Judge Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers, who presided over the trial that commenced on August 18. Judge Rogers continues to oversee a multitude of individual, school district, and state/local government lawsuits alleging harm inflicted upon children by social media companies. Meta remains subject to numerous individual, school district, and municipal lawsuits. Upcoming trials are scheduled for October in Los Angeles. For further details, refer to the original article at Slashdot.
Written by urgent.news from Slashdot's reporting — not their text. Machine-written — may contain errors; check the original before relying on it.
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