A landmark legal settlement will force Facebook and Instagram to make sweeping safety changes for younger users, while also raising more than $500 million for New Jersey, prosecutors say.
New Jersey and dozens of other states filed a joint lawsuit in 2023 against Meta Platforms Inc., which owns Facebook and Instagram. The suit alleged that the company intentionally designed harmful features to purposefully addict children and teens, then misled the public about the safety of its social media platforms.
On Wednesday, the New Jersey Attorney General's Office announced that a landmark agreement worth up to $17.1 billion has been reached between Meta and 47 states, the District of Columbia and U.S. territories. The settlement is still pending court approval.
New Jersey will receive at least $525 million from Meta under the deal – and could potentially receive more than $752 million, the attorney general's office said.
Meanwhile, the settlement will also force Meta to roll out a sweeping series of safety features on Facebook and Instagram, prosecutors said:
Gov. Mikie Sherrill said the settlement is a victory for families in the Garden State.
"Big Tech is finally being held accountable for the harm it is causing, especially to our children's mental health and safety," Sherrill said.
"More important, parents and teens will finally get some relief, including groundbreaking new safety features to protect kids online," she added.
"The lawsuit [Attorney General Jennifer Davenport] helped lead against Meta is another big step in ending the addiction that the technology companies are pushing on kids for profit," Sherrill said. "And it will bring more than $500 million to New Jersey to continue the fight."
META RESPONDS: WHAT ABOUT TIKTOK, YOUTUBE?
Meta issued a statement about the landmark settlement on Wednesday.
"Ensuring teens have a safe and productive experience on our platforms is an absolute imperative for Meta," the company said. "We want to get this right for parents and teens, and that's why we partnered with state attorneys general to set a new industry standard."
Meta called for other social media companies – such as TikTok and YouTube – to make similar changes.
"While this is an important step, the fact is that teens move fluidly between dozens of apps a day," Meta spokespeople said. "All platforms should empower parents and support teens by putting the same measures in place, because we know that when teens are restricted on one app, they simply move to another."
"For meaningful progress to happen, we urge TikTok and YouTube to join us and state attorneys general in adopting this new standard, to ensure teens use social media in a healthy and responsible way," the company said.
According to Meta, the agreement includes a payment of approximately $18 billion, which can be used to fund "youth online safety initiatives" and other state priorities. The payment will be distributed in annual installments over a 10-year period.
Meta said that participating states will receive approximately 70 percent (about $12.7 billion) of the allocated payment over the decade. The remaining 30 percent (about $5.3 billion) will be released only after two specific conditions are met:
DATA PRIVACY
New Jersey prosecutors also announced the resolution of separate claims against Meta for its sharing of nonpublic information about Facebook users with third parties like Cambridge Analytica in the run-up to the 2016 election.
Meta will pay more than $460 million to settle these separate data-privacy claims, of which New Jersey will receive more than $20 million, the attorney general's office said.
As part of its second quarter results report, Meta said revenue came to $60.8 billion: an increase of 28 percent year-over-year.
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