How Facebook and Instagram will change after Meta's $18B settlement - and where the money is going
The suit alleges that Meta designed its platforms to be addicting to young people.
Meta has reached a $18 billion settlement in a lawsuit regarding teen social media use. The funds will be directed towards child online safety programs, youth mental health initiatives, and other related programs. The settlement comes after a bipartisan coalition of attorneys general from nearly every US state filed a lawsuit in 2023, alleging that Meta designed Facebook and Instagram to be addictive to minors, misled the public about platform safety, and illegally harvested private data from teen users.
Meta maintains that it did nothing wrong but is settling to avoid legal proceedings. The settlement includes significant changes to Facebook and Instagram's platforms, aimed at improving teenage mental health and online safety. These changes include a hard daily limit of two hours for users under 18, nighttime hour blocks, hidden likes and reaction numbers, muted push notifications, awareness prompts, the option to use a nonalgorithmic feed, autoplay control, and stricter restrictions on adult-to-teen interactions.
These changes are set to remain in place for 10 years, except for the Time Limit and Night Mode, which have a five-year commitment. The remaining funds will be distributed to participating states (except Texas, Florida, and Kentucky), with 70% going towards internet safety education and protection programs. The 30% set aside for YouTube and TikTok requires these platforms to implement child safety measures and allocate their own funds to similar initiatives.
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