Meta Settles Social Media Addiction Lawsuit For Over $17 Billion
Meta has settled a major kids’ online safety lawsuit with 47 states, districts, and territories, avoiding a trial that could have cost hundreds of billions. The company agreed to pay $17.1 billion over 10 years, though $5.3 billion is contingent on YouTube and TikTok implementing equivalent measures.
Under the settlement, Meta must develop age verification standards, limit teens to two hours of daily app use, suspend push notifications between 10 PM and 7 AM, and allow teens to disable personalized feeds. The company will also disable filters simulating cosmetic procedures and hide post likes for teen users. “This framework will only work if all our peers join us,” said Meta chief legal officer C.J. Mahoney, calling on TikTok and YouTube to adopt the same standards.