Pennsylvania will receive hundreds of millions in damages after a lawsuit was settled against the tech giant Meta, owner of Facebook and Instagram, over claims it intentionally addicted children and caused health issues for countless users.
Of the $18 billion settlement which Meta will pay over 10 years, Pennsylvania is expected to receive $516 million, and up to $729 million.
"The days of Meta ignoring the damage its platforms cause kids are over," Pennsylvania Attorney General Dave Sunday said in a statement. "This is a landmark settlement that brings transformative changes to these hugely-popular social media spaces. These settlement terms will implement effective age restrictions, put a stop to endless scrolling, and limit body-altering filters that skew students' feelings of self-worth."
The suit was filed in 2023 by the attorneys general of 29 states. Pennsylvania was one of the leading litigants.
As part of the settlement, a myriad of new protections for teens and stronger controls for parents will be coming to both Facebook and Instagram. The settlement will fund youth online safety programs and other initiatives prioritized by the states.
Pending judicial approval, in participating US states and territories, the new protections and controls will automatically apply to everyone under 18 on Instagram and Facebook. The majority of the terms are required to remain in place for 10 years.
The new standards include:
Time Limits: Meta will implement a default two-hour daily time limit that teens can only turn off with a parent's permission. This limit is cumulative across Facebook and Instagram, and time spent scrolling on both apps counts toward the total, including if Meta detects that someone has multiple accounts.
Night Mode: A default block from our apps between midnight and 6 a.m. That means teens will not be able to post or view their feed, stories, explore, or reels.
School Mode: Notifications will be muted by default from 8 a.m.-3 p.m. During those hours, teens will no longer receive push notifications, except for direct messages and alerts about their account security or safety.
Regular Prompts: Teens will receive prompts after every 15 minutes of continuous screen time on Facebook or Instagram. They'll also receive prompts when their total daily usage hits 60 minutes and 90 minutes.
Algorithmic Feed Control: Teens will be able to choose a non-algorithmic feed — one that isn't personalized by Meta recommendation systems — as their default. Meta will periodically remind them of this option, and parents can choose to adjust their teen's default experience to require this setting.
Autoplay Control: Teens will be able to turn off autoplay, so that content no longer automatically plays. Instead, they'll need to take a deliberate action, like a tap or swipe, to see more. Parents can choose to adjust their teen's default experience to require this setting.
Hidden Likes: Teens won't see the number of likes and reactions on posts — both their own and those from others — by default.
Disabling cosmetic surgery and extreme makeup filters: In addition to our existing policy to block teens from using cosmetic surgery filters, Meta now will block teens from using extreme makeup filters.
Age Assurance: Meta says it is investing in stronger technology to proactively catch accounts that may belong to those under the age of 13.
Strengthening Meta parental controls: Meta says it will encourage parents to set up its supervision tools and give them new controls and insights. That includes notifying parents when a teen links a secondary account, alerting them to interactions with potentially suspicious accounts, and providing periodic updates on their teen's usage and any changes their teen attempts to make to their protective settings.
Meta's direct messaging features are excluded from Night Mode, Time Limit, and School Mode restrictions, to allow teens to stay connected with friends and family.
In announcing the coming changes, Meta called on two popular apps it does not own - TikTok and YouTube - to also adopt the new standards.