Meta to pay out $17 billion in settlement with states over children becoming addicted to social media

Meta has reached an agreement with a bipartisan group of 52 U.S. attorneys general to implement new, stricter, and standardized safety measures for teenage users regarding time limits, night modes, and school-hour usage. While highlighting these new protections, Meta is calling on industry peers, specifically TikTok and YouTube, to adopt the same framework to ensure effectiveness across the industry. You can read the official statement on the Meta Newsroom.

On the agreement, C.J. Mahoney, Chief Legal Officer at Meta, said:

"I'm pleased to announce that Meta has reached an agreement with a bipartisan group of state attorneys general from around the country on a new set of rules governing teens' use of social media. The framework we've negotiated will empower parents to easily manage how their children access our platforms. Our new Time Limit commitments, Night Mode features and usage limits during school hours set the right path forward for our whole industry, but this framework will only work if all our peers join us. Because teens move fluidly across dozens of apps, we need an industry-wide solution. We therefore call on our industry peers, TikTok and YouTube, to implement this new framework, right away. As a parent, I'm proud of both the work Meta has done to protect kids historically, and of this new groundbreaking agreement. But its success depends on all other social media platforms following Meta's lead."

Variety is reporting that Alabama will receive a maximum state payment of $167,921,502.24 as part of the overall multi-billion dollar nationwide settlement with Meta.