Meta reaches up to $17.1 billion multistate settlement over claims involving children, teens
TRENTON, N.J. — Meta Platforms Inc. has agreed to pay up to $17.1 billion in a multistate settlement resolving claims that the company designed Facebook and Instagram with addictive features and exposed young users to mental health harms, New Jersey Attorney General Jennifer Davenport announced.
The settlement, which is subject to court approval, requires Meta to implement a series of safety features aimed at protecting children and teenagers on Instagram and Facebook. New Jersey will receive at least $525 million and could receive more than $752 million.
“As a parent, protecting your kids is always your North Star. And this agreement achieves critical protections for our children today,” Davenport said. “It would not have been possible without our amazing litigation team, who worked with their counterparts across the country to bring this groundbreaking case.”
The agreement resolves claims by 47 states and the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, American Samoa and the Northern Mariana Islands that Meta designed its platforms with addictive features, knowingly exposed young users to serious mental harms and intentionally misled the public about the safety of its platforms, among other claims.
Under the settlement, Meta will be required to implement several changes to Instagram and Facebook, including a combined daily time limit of two hours for young users, with automatic pauses after 15 minutes of continuous use and again after 60 and 90 minutes. Those restrictions will remain in effect for five years.
If Snapchat, TikTok and YouTube adopt comparable terms, the daily limit on each platform would drop to 60 minutes and extend to 10 years.
Other measures include nighttime blocks restricting youth access from midnight to 6 a.m.; limited school-time access and push notifications on weekdays from 8 a.m. to 3 p.m. during the school year; enhanced age-verification procedures; stronger safeguards involving bullying, eating disorder content, suicide and self-harm content; and more effective parental controls.
The settlement also calls for restrictions on social comparison features, including beauty filters and visible “like” counts linked to poor mental health outcomes in children and teenagers. Independent audits will examine Meta’s implementation and the impact of the new safety features.
Gov. Mikie Sherrill called the settlement a major victory for families.
“Today’s settlement is a major victory for New Jersey families. Big Tech is finally being held accountable for the harm it is causing, especially to our children’s mental health and safety. More important, parents and teens will finally get some relief, including groundbreaking new safety features to protect kids online. But here in New Jersey, we won’t stop fighting until all of the Big Tech companies follow suit and finally stop the constant assault of addictive algorithms.
“I’m a mom of four kids and have seen firsthand how social media platforms can harm our kids – and how parents are often left in this fight alone. That’s why, last month, I signed the strongest laws in the nation to take on Big Tech and put real limits on how and when these companies can reach our kids online. The lawsuit our Attorney General helped lead against Meta is another big step in ending the addiction that the technology companies are pushing on kids for profit. And it will bring more than $500 million to New Jersey to continue the fight.
“Since my campaign, I’ve vowed to take on Big Tech at every turn. I’ll will keep working to ensure New Jersey is a place where kids and parents can feel secure knowing that we have their backs in this fight.”
New Jersey began co-leading a bipartisan multistate investigation into the social media industry in 2021. According to the attorney general’s office, the investigation found that Meta designed Instagram features to addict children while internally documenting resulting mental health harms and failing to warn parents.
A multistate lawsuit filed in 2023 alleged Meta designed and deployed harmful features on Instagram and Facebook that drove excessive use by children and teenagers, distracted them during the school day and disrupted their sleep while misleading users, families and the public about the risks.
The trial regarding Meta’s alleged deception began in Oakland, California, last week. The trial team was led by Davenport, California Attorney General Rob Bonta, Colorado Attorney General Phil Weiser and Kentucky Attorney General Russell Coleman.
Meta will pay a minimum of $12.1 billion and up to $17.1 billion to states involved in the multidistrict litigation to settle the 2023 lawsuit.
A separate agreement announced Wednesday resolves claims involving Meta’s sharing of nonpublic information about Facebook users with third parties such as Cambridge Analytica ahead of the 2016 election. Meta will pay more than $460 million to settle those data privacy claims, with New Jersey receiving more than $20 million.
