Meta Platforms will pay up to $17 billion to settle a landmark lawsuit brought by a bipartisan coalition of U.S. states. The lawsuit accused the company of designing Facebook and Instagram with addictive features harmful to children's mental health. It also alleged Meta collected data on users under 13 without parental consent. This settlement concludes a federal trial in the U.S. Northern District of California.
As part of the historic settlement, Meta will implement significant platform changes for users under 18. The company will establish a default daily time limit of two hours. It will block app usage between midnight and 6 a.m. Meta will also remove 'like' and reaction counts for younger users.
Critics acknowledge the significance of these changes. However, some advocates argue the settlement does not fully address issues regarding content recommendation algorithms.