Meta’s settlement will compel others to bend the knee and set up teen guardrails
Summary
Meta has reached a settlement to change how teenagers use Instagram and Facebook after being sued by many US states. The company will introduce new safety features for teens, such as usage limits and night-time blocks, and pay up to $18 billion over ten years.Key Facts
- Dozens of US states sued Meta, accusing it of harming teens through its social media apps.
- Meta agreed to changes including verifying users’ ages, limiting daily use to two hours, blocking social media at night, and disabling “likes” for teens.
- These new safety features will be turned on automatically, rather than being optional.
- Meta will pay as much as $18 billion over ten years to the states involved in the lawsuit.
- The payment is the largest ever made by a tech company in a US legal case but is not a major financial risk for Meta.
- The lawsuit’s main goal was to force Meta to change its operations to better protect children, not just to gain money.
- Meta has previously introduced teen-related safety tools, but state officials criticized them as ineffective.
- Meta hopes its settlement will set a standard that other social media companies like TikTok and YouTube will follow.
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