Meta has agreed to settle a multi-state lawsuit concerning claims of child addiction to social media, reportedly reaching a $17 billion deal with California, Colorado, Kentucky, and New Jersey. This agreement, reported by Axios, puts an end to a broader $1.4 trillion lawsuit as Meta commits to limiting users under 18 to two hours of social media access each day across its platforms.
California Attorney General Rob Bonta stated, “Today, we have secured a settlement with Meta that will make social media less dangerous for our kids and make a world of a difference for children and their families,” in a press release on Wednesday.
Bonta elaborated that Meta is expected to implement significant changes to minimize risks associated with its platforms, such as imposing time limits, disabling notifications during school, blocking access during critical overnight hours, banning plastic surgery filters, and more.
Nicole Runyon, a former child psychotherapist and parent coach, remarked that this settlement validates long-standing concerns about social media’s detrimental effects on children’s development. She noted, “The lawsuits have made it so that there is no doubt that social media is harmful to children.”
However, Runyon cautioned that lawsuits alone won’t eradicate the issue of social media addiction, recalling how tobacco companies faced legal consequences only to have their products evolve to attract new generations.
She emphasized the role of parents and the community in guiding children towards healthy choices while navigating social media, stating, “Delay social media and teach kids how to use it while you delay it so that when it’s time to use it, they can use it for good.”
Runyon expressed concern that Meta’s parental controls might provide a misleading sense of security for parents, potentially causing them to overlook their children’s online behavior.
“Parents can’t rely on the government to save this generation!” she asserted.
Meta has also agreed to impose additional restrictions, such as barring children from accessing Facebook and Instagram between midnight and six a.m., limiting notifications during school hours, and offering a chronological feed option instead of an algorithm-based one, according to the settlement.
In a letter, Meta said, “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.” They have also called on YouTube and TikTok to adopt similar measures to limit children’s social media usage.
Meta expressed the desire to collaborate with these platforms to ensure that teens benefit from the new industry standards, emphasizing that such protections would be most effective with a united effort.
