Big Tech’s day of reckoning is here!
Meta has just agreed to a $17.1 billion settlement over claims from 47 state Attorneys General that the company intentionally addicted and harmed children, while misleading the public about the safety of its products. Even better, the settlement comes with injunctive relief—that is, a list of changes Meta must implement to make its platforms safer for American children!
This is an incredible victory, building on the nationwide momentum in litigation against social media companies. If this settlement is approved by the court, it will be the largest payout that has so far resulted from the thousands of lawsuits Meta is currently facing.
Big Tech’s Liability Shield is Cracking!
For decades, Big Tech has been the only industry in America that did not need to fear liability when it was designing harmful products. That age of impunity is coming to a close.
Just like any other industry, Big Tech must now consider whether the profit of harmful design features is worth potentially billions of dollars in liability costs. That is a great thing which will lead to safer and more beneficial platforms for kids.
Just like any other industry, Big Tech must now consider whether the profit of harmful design features is worth potentially billions of dollars in liability costs. Share on XWhat Changes Will Meta Have to Make?
The injunctive relief from the settlement lays outseveral changes Meta must make to reduce harm to minors in the US:
Age Assurance & Content Restrictions:
Meta must employ effective & privacy-protective age assurance measures to prevent minors from accessing age-inappropriate content and/or to prevent children who are under the age limit from accessing the platform at all. The age assurance methods will be tested every year by a third party to ensure they meet standards for efficacy and privacy.
Addictive Features:
Meta must hide like counts by default for minors. They also must allow minors to opt-out of personalized algorithmic feeds and will send prompts every 90 days reminding them of the ability to opt-out.
Excessive Usage:
Meta must implement a two-hour daily time limit for minors (split between Facebook and Instagram). This daily limit will go down to 1 hour if other major competitors like TikTok, Snap, and YouTube agree to do the same. Meta must implement “productive pauses” to interrupt mindless scrolling. This will involve sending a prompt when a teen has been using a platform continually for 15 minutes, and when they have used the platforms cumulatively for 60 minutes, then 90 minutes.
Meta must also implement a “night access mode” and a “school mode” by default for teen users. Both night access mode and school mode will disable push notifications, unless changed by a parent/caregiver. Night access mode will also only allow the teen to use messages and settings—other aspects of Meta platforms will be inaccessible. Further,
Eating Disorders:
Meta must disable cosmetic filters for minors. These filters, which mimic the effects of plastic surgery, were shown to increase eating disorders among teenage girls. Internal documents showed Meta weighed the pros and cons of keeping these filters, and decided that the con of limiting growth outweighed the pro of reducing eating disorders for teen girls.
Parental Supervision:
Meta must provide additional information to parents/caregivers to facilitate supervision of their child’s online activity. This includes notifying the parent/caregiver when the child communicates with an adult user, when they search for harmful content, or if the child creates a secondary account. Meta must also inform parents/caregivers how much time their child is spending on the platforms. Meta must also issue various prompts to assist parents when setting up controls or changing settings.
And more! Meta has agreed to make most of these changes within the coming months, with the exception of their age assurance framework, which they have agreed to implement within a year.
Best of Both Worlds: Settlement AND Trial!
This settlement is an incredible victory which will bring meaningful safety changes to social media platforms in the very near future. As AG Jeff Jackson (North Carolina) stated regarding his and many other AGs decision to settle:
“Litigation would mean that we were still many years away from bringing any of these child safety upgrades to these platforms, it would risk losing another generation.”
At the same time, AG James Uthmeier (Florida) chose not to settle. He stated:
“The payouts are peanuts compared to the profound harms Meta’s profit-driven addictive features inflicted on kids, and a slap on the wrist for a trillion-dollar corp that’ll pay more to lawyers than to the states. We’ll see them at trial.”
Both of these decisions by the AGs are admirable. And the amazing thing is, now we get the best of both worlds! We have an early settlement with injunctive relief that will make the platforms safer immediately, AND Meta will still be taken to trial, potentially leading to formal legal precedent, even bigger damages, and the public disclosure of all their wrongdoings.
Onward!
This is an incredibly exciting time for parents, children, advocates, and everyone invested in child online safety. Our decades-long fight to protect children from severe online harms is coming to fruition in an explosive way.
We are so grateful to the courageous AGs; to the advocates, whistleblowers, and other experts who laid the groundwork for these cases; and to YOU for always standing up for the vulnerable!
Today, the online world is safer for kids because of you. That’s a legacy you can be proud of!
