Meta Will Pay Up to $16.7 Billion to Settle Its Social Media Harms Case—and That’s Not All
In addition to sending billions of dollars to states, Meta will make substantive changes to its platforms as part of a landmark settlement.
Meta has agreed to a settlement of up to $16.7 billion with 29 US state attorneys general, addressing concerns over the harms caused by its social media platforms. The agreement follows Meta's recent trials in California and New Mexico, where it faced nearly $1 billion in penalties each. The settlement requires Meta to implement changes to Instagram and Facebook, including default two-hour time limits for teens, a midnight to 6 am block, and muted notifications between 8 am and 3 pm.
Teens will receive prompts to take breaks every 15 minutes and additional notifications at 60 and 90 minutes of screen time. Parents will have greater control over their teens' usage, including the ability to switch to a chronological feed and disable autoplay by default. Meta also committed to disabling certain filters and advertisements targeting teens, as it is accused of violating federal child privacy laws by collecting data from users under 13.
The settlement aims to make social media safer for children and their families, addressing concerns about the negative impact of excessive social media use on adolescent mental health.
Written by urgent.news from Wired's reporting — not their text. Machine-written — may contain errors; check the original before relying on it.
This story
This is one outlet's version. Read the fullest account.
