Meta agrees to $18 billion US settlement and tightens restrictions on minors' use of Instagram and Facebook

The U.S. state of California’s Department of Justice announced on Wednesday that Meta, the owner of several of the most widely used social media platforms, has reached a preliminary $18 billion settlement with most U.S. states, involving sweeping changes that would significantly restrict minors’ access to Instagram and Facebook.

According to the U.S. newspaper Politico, the agreement would end a landmark trial in which California and more than 24 other states alleged that Meta deliberately made its platforms addictive to children and misled users about the potential harms of their use.

California Attorney General Rob Bonta said in a statement: “We have reached a settlement with Meta that will make social media safer for our children and will make a huge difference for kids and their families.”

He noted that the terms of the agreement include “transformative changes that will reduce the risk of harm.”

Although the modifications approved by Meta will apply only in the United States, their impact will be far-reaching, as the company prepares to implement safety measures that online safety advocates have long sought to enact through Congress.

Instagram and Facebook together have hundreds of millions of U.S. users, including many teenagers and parents, who will be most affected by the new child safety features.

According to Bonta’s office, the settlement requires Meta to implement safeguards on its platforms to limit minors’ usage time to no more than two hours per day, and to completely block access between midnight and 6 a.m., unless a parent opts to override these restrictions.

Default settings will prevent Meta from sending notifications to minors between 10 p.m. and 7 a.m., with similar restrictions applied during school hours from mid-August to mid-June.

The restrictions could become stricter if competitors in the social media space, such as Snapchat, TikTok, or YouTube, agree to take similar steps. In that case, the maximum daily usage limit would be reduced to one hour, and the nighttime access ban would be extended to cover the period from 10 p.m. to 7 a.m., according to the proposed settlement terms.