Meta agrees to make changes, pay up to $18 billion in youth harm lawsuit settlement

Meta has agreed to settle a major U.S. lawsuit alleging that its platforms are designed to be addictive to children while improperly collecting their data.

Following a California federal trial brought forward by 29 states, the tech giant will pay up to US$18 billion (about C$25 billion) and implement restrictions on Facebook and Instagram. With respect to the latter concession, Meta says it will restrict teenagers’ use of these platforms to two hours per day and block all usage between midnight and 6 a.m. The company also pledged increase measures to prevent children from accessing age-restricted content.

However, the settlement means that Meta is denying any wrongdoing, which it has maintained since the case was first raised. CJ Mahoney, Meta’s chief legal officer, also said in a release that the company’s latest measures will only be successful if other social media apps take similar action.

“Because teens move fluidly across dozens of apps, we need an industry-wide solution. We therefore call on our industry peers, TikTok, Snap, and YouTube, to implement this new framework, right away,” he said.

While that is certainly being said to deflect blame, it is a valid point that more regulation across the board is needed. It should be noted, however, that a Meta spokesperson confirmed to The Canadian Press that these changes are only being made in the U.S. and won’t make their way to Canada. Therefore, Mahoney’s sentiment about the necessity of widespread changes loses some of its weight when you consider that company isn’t even rolling out its own latest measures beyond one country.

In any event, Canada unveiled plans in June to adopt a ban on social media for youth, which would naturally include platforms like Facebook and Instagram. However, this proposal still needs to be passed into law, and some experts have suggested it will be met with a Charter challenge.

Via: CBC News