Meta Platforms (Meta), which operates Facebook and Instagram, agreed to pay up to $16.7 billion (about 23.1 trillion won) and strengthen youth protection measures to resolve lawsuits filed by U.S. state governments that said it induced teenagers to become addicted to social networking services (SNS).
According to the settlement filed on the 26th (local time) in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California, Meta reached a deal with 47 U.S. states, among others, on these terms. The settlement takes effect only after court approval.
Meta will first pay about $11.7 billion. If other major social media companies such as TikTok, YouTube, and Snap reach similar agreements with state governments, Meta will pay additional settlement funds, bringing the total to as much as $16.7 billion.
By state, California, which led the lawsuit, will receive the most at $1.5 billion to $2.2 billion, followed by New York at $800 million to $1.1 billion. States such as New Mexico, which obtained penalty judgments through separate lawsuits with Meta, are excluded from the settlement.
Under the settlement, Meta will limit SNS usage time for users under 18 and reduce the addictiveness of content recommendation algorithms. Teenagers can use Facebook and Instagram for a combined total of only two hours a day, and access will be blocked from midnight to 6 a.m. Parental approval is required to lift the limits.
If competitors also adopt youth usage time limits, Meta's daily limit will be reduced to one hour. The nighttime access block will also be expanded from 10 p.m. to 7 a.m. the next day. During school terms, on weekdays from 8 a.m. to 3 p.m., a "school mode" will apply. During these hours, notifications other than person-to-person messages will be disabled.
Teen users can choose a "non-personalized feed" that shows only chronological posts from accounts they subscribe to, instead of an algorithm in which artificial intelligence (AI) keeps recommending content. Meta must inform teenagers about this feature when they sign up and every 90 days after signup. Parents can also apply the non-personalized feed to their child's account.
On teen accounts, reaction counts such as "likes" displayed on posts will not be visible. Photo filters that make someone appear to have had plastic surgery or makeup will also be blocked. Accounts will be set to private by default, and unfamiliar adults will face limits on searching for or contacting teenagers.
Meta will also build age verification technology to prevent teenagers aged 13 to 17 from entering false birthdates to create adult accounts. It will develop an AI model to block access by children under 13, who are prohibited from signing up, and will report annually on the results of finding and deleting unauthorized signup accounts.
Rob Bonta, the California attorney general who led the lawsuit, said, "This settlement will make SNS less dangerous for kids and bring major changes to the lives of kids and families."
C. J. Mahoney, Meta's chief legal officer (CLO), said, "This measure points the entire industry in the right direction," and "We urge TikTok and YouTube to immediately implement this new framework as well."
Earlier, U.S. state governments filed suit claiming Meta intentionally designed addictive features to keep children and teenagers on its platforms longer, while failing to adequately disclose the related risks.