Meta to pay up to 16.68 billion over social media risks to minors

Meta has reached a settlement with dozens of US states in the lawsuit over the dangers of social media for children and teenagers. The agreement avoids a trial that would have drawn heavy media attention to the group's practices.

According to court documents made public on Wednesday, the parent company of Facebook and Instagram will pay up to 16.68 billion dollars to the states involved. Besides the financial compensation, Meta has committed to introducing nationwide changes to protect younger users: default daily time limits and nighttime blocks on access to the platforms.

The accusations

The case was pending before a federal court in California, where 29 states had accused the company of deliberately designing its social networks to be addictive for minors. The accusations also included misleading consumers about the safety of the platforms and illegally collecting children's personal data, later used to train artificial intelligence models.

Meta accepted the settlement but again rejected all the accusations. The company reaffirmed its commitment to protecting minors on its platforms.

The sum is substantial, but it remains to be seen how much it will really weigh on the accounts of a group that draws huge profits from the time users, including minors, spend online. The new limits concern schedules and duration of use, not the workings of the algorithms that, according to the accusations, were designed to hold younger users' attention. A broader question remains open: whether protecting minors online should keep depending on state-by-state lawsuits, with different settlements from one territory to another, or on uniform public rules applying to all platforms.