Meta Will Pay Up to $16.7 Billion to Settle a Lawsuit Over the Harmful Effects of Social Media on Children
Meta Will Pay a $12.6 Billion Fine / Photo: ADRIAN3388 / Shutterstock
Meta, which owns Facebook and Instagram, has reached an agreement with a coalition of attorneys general from 29 U.S. states to settle a major federal court case, according to CNBC. The company was accused of misleading the public about the extent of the negative impact its social media platforms have on the mental health of underage users.
Details
Meta has agreed to pay a fine that could total up to $16.7 billion, Bloomberg reports, citing court documents. In addition, the company has committed to implementing restrictions on its platforms. For example, daily limits on social media usage and a nighttime blocking feature are being introduced for teenage users. Furthermore, Meta is required to implement enhanced age verification mechanisms to prevent children from accessing its services and to develop an expanded set of parental control tools.
Meta shares surged in premarket trading and gained 3.6% at the opening of regular trading on August 26, but then quickly lost momentum and even briefly dipped 1.4% into negative territory.
Bloomberg notes that the company’s agreement with the attorneys general still requires a judge’s signature to take effect. The lawsuit was jointly led by the attorneys general of California, Colorado, New Jersey, and Kentucky, with a total of 29 states joining the case. Once the court order is officially approved as a final decision, all parties to the lawsuit will completely waive their right to further appeal.
Meta denied the allegations against it and did not admit guilt in its settlement with the attorneys general. The company did not respond to a request for comment from Bloomberg. Prior to the trial, it claimed that the four lead states in the case were seeking payments of up to $1.4 trillion.
Context
Meta, as well as Snap (the owner of Snapchat), Alphabet (the owner of YouTube), and ByteDance (owner of TikTok) still face thousands of lawsuits in federal and state courts alleging that they intentionally added features to their platforms that are addictive to children and teenagers, Reuters reports.
Earlier this year, Meta had already lost a case against New Mexico over this issue: in March, the court ordered the company to pay $375 million, and in August, it added another $567 million.
This article was AI-translated and verified by a human editor
