Meta Agrees to Pay Up to $17.1 Billion in Settlement, Pledges to Make Changes to Facebook & Instagram Amid Claims | Just Jared - Celebrity News and Gossip

Meta has agreed to pay up to $17.1 billion and make major changes to both Facebook and Instagram.

Why Is Meta Paying Up to $17.1 Billion?

The Mark Zuckerberg-led company has agreed to settle claims brought by 29 states alleging that Facebook and Instagram were designed to be addictive to children, harmed their mental health, improperly collected their personal data and misled consumers about the platforms’ safety. Meta denied wrongdoing in agreeing to the settlement.

The youth-harm portion of the settlement is worth up to $16.68 billion, while an additional $459.3 million will resolve separate privacy lawsuits connected to the Cambridge Analytica scandal.

What Changes Are Coming to Facebook and Instagram?

Meta will initially pay approximately $12 billion, with part of the remaining amount contingent upon Snap, TikTok and YouTube reaching similar agreements involving financial penalties and product changes, according to the New York Times. The agreement remains subject to court approval.

Under the agreement, Meta will impose daily usage limits and nighttime restrictions on teenage users while strengthening measures intended to prevent children from accessing age-restricted content.

The settlement also resolves privacy lawsuits brought by California, Illinois, New Mexico and Washington, D.C., related to Cambridge Analytica, the political consulting firm that obtained the personal data of millions of Facebook users. Those governments will receive a combined $459.3 million, according to Reuters.

What Meta Said About the Allegations

Meta argued that “social media addiction” is not a recognized psychiatric condition in the proceedings.

Meta, Snap, TikTok and YouTube still face thousands of lawsuits in federal and state courts alleging that addictive platform features helped fuel a youth mental health crisis.

Last year, Meta denied that Facebook and Instagram users were forced to follow accounts for the Trump administration.

Mark Zuckerberg recently faced backlash for allegedly not helping a small boat that ran out of fuel.

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