메타, ‘청소년 SNS 중독’ 25조원 지급 합의…1일 2시간만 이용케

Meta, the operator of Facebook and Instagram, has reached a settlement with US state governments over adolescent social media addiction, agreeing to pay up to $180 billion (around 25 trillion won). This marks the first time the social media industry has acknowledged the harmful nature of their platforms towards young users and agreed to massive compensation.

The agreement also includes enhanced protection measures for minors. The settlement, submitted to the California Federal District Court on May 26, allocates $121.9 million annually over ten years to the population-based signatory states. This includes all 48 US states, Washington D.C., and three US territories (Puerto Rico, American Samoa, and the Northern Mariana Islands).

Florida, which had previously joined a similar lawsuit, is excluded from the settlement. Florida Attorney General Plamer opposes the agreement, stating that the compensation is "pennies" compared to the severe harm inflicted on minors by Meta's profit-driven addictive features. The settlement also includes additional compensation for data privacy breaches and legal costs, pushing the total amount to $180 billion.

This is comparable to the $187 billion settlement for the 2010 Deepwater Horizon oil spill in Mexico. Meta has committed to limiting adolescent SNS usage to 2 hours per day and implementing a nighttime access ban after 6 PM. In the event of cooperation from competitors like YouTube and TikTok, the daily limit could be reduced to 1 hour, and the nighttime ban could extend until 10 PM.

This is intended to prevent overburdening Meta and encourage industry-wide participation. The agreement also introduces a "school mode" during the school semester, during which the platform restricts notifications to personal messages only. Additionally, the algorithm that suggests content will be disabled for adolescent accounts, and they will be limited to viewing their own posts and those of their followed accounts in a chronological order.

Users will not be able to view the number of 'likes' or use filters that make their appearance seem more attractive. Accounts will also be set to private, preventing strangers from finding or contacting adolescents. The pressure for Meta's cooperation came from the 29 US state governments that jointly filed a lawsuit against the company in 2023.

California Attorney General Rob Bonta attributes the success of the agreement to the pressure applied by these states during the lengthy litigation process. Former California Attorney General Rooney Pemberton-Emerson notes that Meta would not have agreed to the settlement if they had not realized the gravity of the situation. However, the legal battle is far from over, as Meta still faces numerous lawsuits from individuals and educational institutions.

The New York Times considers this settlement a turning point for the social media industry, which has largely evaded regulatory oversight until now. Nonetheless, meaningful regulatory effects will depend on the participation of other major platforms. According to the Pew Research Center, 92% of American teens use YouTube, 68% use TikTok, 63% use Instagram, and 31% use Facebook.

YouTube and TikTok, unlike Meta, have not faced large-scale joint lawsuits from multiple state governments, making it less likely for them to agree to the current proposals. The scope of regulation implementation is also limited to US states that participate in the agreement, leaving the protection measures for Korean and international adolescents uncertain.