Meta settlement pays Mass. $516M, bolsters teen restrictions
Add Axios as your preferred source to
see more of our stories on Google.
Illustration: Sarah Grillo/Axios. Stock: Getty Images
Meta agreed to settle with U.S. states for up to $17.1 billion in a landmark deal over allegations that Facebook and Instagram were designed in ways that harm children.
Why it matters: This is social media's version of the landmark 1990s tobacco settlement. It effectively reshapes the industry and potentially the user experience.
Driving the news: Meta agreed to provide compensation to the states for a variety of public health purposes, including $516 million for Massachusetts.
- Meta also agreed to limit users ages 13-17 to 2 hours per day on Facebook and Instagram, block them from accessing the platforms from midnight to 6 am, and limit notifications to them during school hours.
- Youth will also be given the option to have a chronological feed, not an algorithmic one, and parents can make it the default option.
- Kids also won't be able to see likes and other reactions on posts.
The intrigue: Meta issued an open letter to TikTok and YouTube calling on them to join in the deal.
- "We want to ensure teens benefit from this new industry standard, but we cannot do it alone," the letter says, per a source to Axios.
- "All platforms should empower parents and support teens in these ways because we know that when teens are restricted on one app, they simply move to another."
Between the lines: About $5 billion of the Meta settlement kicks in only if YouTube and TikTok also settle with states on two conditions:
- Imposing a one-hour daily usage limit, night restrictions and age assurance features;
- Paying about $5 billion each.
Follow the money: At roughly $17 billion, the Meta settlement is on par with historic federal civil settlements like the Volkswagen "Dieselgate" scandal and the BP Deepwater Horizon deal.
- But it's a small fraction of the 1998 tobacco deal, under which states collected more than $200 billion.
The other side: "This settlement is about more than a financial penalty," Massachusetts Attorney General Andrea Campbell said in a statement.
- "It's about changing the way Big Tech does business."