Meta agrees to payments of up to $17.1 billion in US states case — The Hill
On August 26, Meta reached a settlement with 47 US states, the District of Columbia and US territories in a case concerning the allegedly harmful design of social platforms for minors. According to a The Hill column, the company agreed to pay $12.19 billion over 10 years.
According to author Mark Weinstein, the total amount could rise to $17.1 billion if TikTok and YouTube agree to comparable terms. On the same day, Meta reached a separate $1 billion agreement with the state of Texas. The author notes that the coalition of states initially demanded about $200 billion.
Restrictions for users
According to the description of the terms in the column, the agreement provides for changes for users under 18: a limit of up to two hours of use per day, no access from midnight to 6:00 a.m., push notifications disabled during school hours and at night, and the removal of public like counters and beauty filters.
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Parents will be able to disable the daily limit and nighttime block. Direct messages are not subject to these restrictions. Algorithmic feeds for minors will remain available, but users will be offered the option to opt out of them. Meta must also introduce age-verification mechanisms to remove users under 13, though the company itself will determine the method of such verification.
Assessments by officials and the author
In the column, Weinstein called the agreement insufficient and noted that Meta did not admit wrongdoing. Florida Attorney General James Uthmeier, who did not support the agreement, said its amount was insignificant compared with the harm that, in his view, Meta's profit-oriented, addictive features caused to children.
California Attorney General Rob Bonta said Meta is “first in line.” According to the column’s author, similar cases also involve YouTube, TikTok and Snap.
