For years, I’ve written about the harms that violence in the media does to children. While the American Academy of Pediatrics has issued statements on it and the organization has resources for parents on positive ways kids can use social media, little action has been taken. Congress has debated what to do about the harmful effects of social media for years, but hasn’t passed any laws.
A 2023 lawsuit against Meta Platforms Inc. by a coalition of attorneys general and its proposed settlement, announced Wednesday, changes everything.
Meta has agreed to a $17 billion agreement to settle allegations that it designed and deployed harmful features on Instagram and Facebook that drive compulsive use by children and teens to their mental and physical detriment. The attorneys generals also charged that Meta mislead users, their families, and the public on the existence and severity of these risks.
The settlement, which needs to be approved by the court, halted a trial began on Aug. 18 in federal court in California.
“Today, we have secured a settlement with Meta that will make social media less dangerous for our kids and make a world of a difference for children and their families,” California Attorney General Rob Bonta said in a statement. “Meta has agreed to make massive transformations that will reduce the risk of harm from its platforms – and will do it within months.”
The settlement
The $17 billion settlement, to be paid to the states over 10 years, will go to the prevention or remediation of mental health or other harms to young people associated with social media use, as determined by the states.
The proposed settlement includes strong terms designed to help protect teens from the mental health harms associated with social media use, including bans and blocks on features known to be harmful, such as:
- A default daily time limit of two hours for users under 18 that can only be lifted by a parent. If other social media platforms agree to similar terms, the daily time limit will drop to one hour.
- A default nighttime block between midnight and 6 a.m. for users under 18 that can only be lifted by a parent. If other social media platforms agree to similar terms, the nighttime block will expand to cover 10 p.m. to 7 a.m.
- Default blocks on notifications to users under 18 from 10 p.m. to 7 a.m. and during the school day – 8 a.m. to 3 p.m. from Aug. 15 to June 15.
- An enhanced mechanism for teens to report potentially harmful content and a requirement that Meta respond to 90 percent of those reports within six hours.
- A ban on displaying numbers of likes or reactions to users under 18.
- A ban on cosmetic procedure image filters for users under 18.
- An option for users under 18 to have a non-personalized feed, meaning a feed that doesn’t use an algorithm to target them with content aimed to keep them endlessly scrolling.
- A commitment from Meta to maintain, review, and improve existing teen content safety measures.
The company will also be required to maintain other protections. For example, Meta will:
- Maintain, review, and improve existing teen content safety measures and will create enhanced parent supervision tools.
- Institute robust age assurance measures to detect users under 18, as well as measures to identify and remove kids under 13 from their platforms.
- Bring on an independent auditor with access to information and resources, regular reporting, and the right to communicate concerns to the attorneys general.
- Be prohibited from making further false, misleading, or deceptive statements about its safety features.
Texas, Florida, and New Mexico are the only three U.S. states not listed as part of the settlement terms. Texas will receive $1 billion from Meta in a separate settlement.
In addition to 47 states, attorneys generals from the District of Columbia, American Samoa, the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands, and Puerto Rico were part of the settlement.
Meta, along with other social media companies, still faces hundreds of lawsuits brought by individuals, families, and school districts accusing it of addicting and harming children.
