Meta To Pay $17bn In US Teen Social Media Addiction Settlement

Meta has agreed to pay about $17 bn to settle lawsuits brought by US states accusing the company of deliberately designing Facebook and Instagram to be addictive to young users.

The settlement, announced Wednesday, August 26, ends a landmark federal trial in California involving claims from 47 states that Meta’s platforms contributed to harm among teenagers and violated child privacy laws.

Under the agreement, Meta will also introduce additional safety measures on Facebook and Instagram aimed at protecting children and teenagers.

The measures include daily usage limits, restrictions on push notifications during school hours, stronger age-verification systems and enhanced parental controls. Meta will also restrict certain social-comparison features, including the visibility of “like” counts for younger users.

The case was filed in 2023 after a coalition of states accused Meta of intentionally developing features designed to keep young users engaged for longer periods while allegedly concealing information about the risks posed to children.

The states also alleged that Meta collected personal information from children under 13 without proper parental consent, in violation of US child privacy laws.

The trial began in Oakland, California, last week and had been expected to last several weeks. It was one of the most significant legal challenges yet faced by Meta over the impact of its platforms on young people.

Prosecutors had argued that Meta’s business model prioritised user engagement and advertising revenue despite internal concerns about the effects of its platforms on young users. Former Meta employee Arturo Béjar was among those who testified about concerns raised internally over the company’s approach to child safety.

Meta has denied wrongdoing and maintained that it has invested heavily in protecting young users on its platforms. The company has also disputed the characterisation of social media addiction as a recognised psychiatric condition.

The settlement brings an abrupt end to the trial, which could otherwise have exposed Meta to potentially enormous financial penalties.

The states had sought damages that could have reached hundreds of billions of dollars, while Meta had warned that the maximum theoretical penalties could have been far higher.

The agreement comes amid a wider wave of lawsuits against major social media companies over alleged harm to children and teenagers, with Meta, TikTok, Snapchat and YouTube facing cases across the United States.