In a landmark settlement, Meta has agreed to impose sweeping new restrictions on teenage use of Facebook and Instagram and pay up to $16.7 billion to US states over allegations that it designed the platforms to keep children hooked.
Meta will pay about $11.7bn in 10 annual instalments, with another $5bn payable if rival platforms agree to comparable measures, taking the potential payout to $16.7bn.
The company will also pay $75 million in legal costs incurred by the states and $459m to resolve earlier claims linked to the Cambridge Analytica data scandal.
The states are expected to use the funds for youth mental health services, crisis helplines, after-school programmes and digital literacy initiatives, although spending decisions will ultimately be made by state legislatures.
Under the agreement, teenage accounts will, by default, be blocked from Facebook and Instagram between midnight and 6am local time within six months.
Teenagers will still have access to messaging and certain account settings during the curfew, but these features will be restricted to prevent access to the wider platforms. Push notifications will also be disabled between 10pm and 7am.
Teen accounts will initially be limited to two hours of cumulative daily use across Meta’s apps, with the allowance resetting at midnight. Messaging and long-form videos will not count towards the limit.
Teenagers will not be able to override the restrictions without parental approval, while parents will have the option to impose stricter limits.
If competing platforms adopt similar measures, Meta will extend the overnight restriction to 10pm-7am and reduce usage to 60 minutes per app, with a maximum of two hours across the platforms.
Notifications will also be disabled during school hours, defined as 8am to 3pm on weekdays between Aug 15 and June 15.
Within four months, Meta will offer teenagers a feed that does not rely on algorithmic personalisation.
Like counts will be hidden by default, while filters promoting cosmetic surgery will be prohibited.
Meta has been given one year to introduce an age-assurance system designed to more accurately identify teenage users.
Under the settlement, the system must not incorrectly classify more than 3 per cent of users aged 13 to 15 as adults and no more than 10pc of those aged 16 and 17.
New accounts whose ages remain unverified after 14 days will automatically be treated as teen accounts, regardless of the age provided by the user.
For children under 13, who are prohibited from using the platforms under US law, Meta must presume an account is underage unless there is evidence to the contrary. The company must also examine the friend networks of deleted accounts to identify other potentially underage users.
Parents supervising teenage accounts will receive daily updates on their children’s usage, prompts to review account settings and the ability to modify school-hour restrictions.
Meta will also be required to respond to reports of illegal or offensive content submitted by teenagers within six hours in at least 90pc of cases filed in English or Spanish.
An independent auditor, jointly selected by Meta and a committee representing the states and funded by the company, will monitor compliance with the settlement for 10 years.
According to Meta, the restrictions will apply only in participating US states and territories. The company said it would continue working with parents, regulators and policymakers internationally on measures to improve online safety for teenagers.
Meta has also urged rival platforms including YouTube and TikTok to adopt similar safeguards, making full implementation of some settlement provisions conditional on their participation.
The settlement resolves claims brought by 29 states that Meta deliberately designed Facebook and Instagram to attract and retain young users, misled the public about the platforms’ risks and unlawfully collected data from children under 13.
A total of 51 states and territories, along with Washington DC, initially reached a settlement with Meta, while Texas entered into a separate agreement that pushed the company’s total potential payout to about $18bn.
The new restrictions represent the most extensive changes Meta has agreed to regarding teenage use of its platforms and follow years of criticism from parents and child-safety experts over the impact of social media on young users.
Concerns surrounding Instagram, Facebook and rival platforms such as Snapchat and TikTok have also contributed to the introduction of age restrictions and school phone bans in several countries.
Despite the settlement, Meta continues to face thousands of personal injury claims and lawsuits filed by school districts.
The case brought by the 29 states was among the most significant legal challenges faced by the company. Meta had warned that losing the case in court could have exposed it to more than $1 trillion in potential penalties.
