A $17.1 billion settlement covers 47 states, the District of Columbia,<\/a> and a handful of U.S. territories. Meta settled separately with Texas for $1 billion. Funds will be paid out over a 10-year period. The money will fund various youth online safety initiatives as deemed by the states.<\/p>\n\u201cThis settlement has the potential to be significant in one way,\u201d Mary Graw Leary, a professor of law at The Catholic University of America Columbus School of Law, told OSV News.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt is now multiple cases in which Meta has been accused of designing their products to be harmful; misleading the public as to their harm; and misleading the public as to their safety \u2014 and they have either lost or settled the cases,\u201d she explained. \u201cThat suggests Meta has an awareness that their own internal documents reveal a real risk of their actual motives emerging, and they recognize that they have difficulty establishing otherwise.\u201d<\/p>\n
However, Graw Leary, who directs the law school\u2019s modern prosecution program, cautioned that while the potential for change now exists, it\u2019s still not a surety the digital environment will become more safe.<\/p>\n
\u201cI would not think this settlement amount alone will severely impact Meta,\u201d she said. \u201cMoreover, it is significantly less than the $200 billion that the AGs estimated would be the damages at the beginning of trial.\u201d<\/p>\n
She said it \u201cmay be significant\u201d if Meta \u201cactually does what this settlement requires.\u201d<\/p>\n
But,\u201d Graw Leary noted, \u201cthis is a company which the court found at the summary judgment stage already collected private data from children under 13, which has been prohibited by law for many years. So, the track record of compliance is not there. Furthermore, there will no doubt be disagreements as to whether they are complying \u2014 and such disagreements could be bogged down in the courts.\u201d<\/p>\n
Graw Leary further emphasized some of the provisions are not highly burdensome on Meta \u2014 and that in the end, this amounts to a business decision for the company.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt will cost them more to finish the trial and lose than to pay just over $1 billion every year for 10 years,\u201d she said. \u201cMoreover, they will no doubt use this settlement to further lobby against any meaningful regulation that Congress is contemplating.\u201d<\/p>\n
Graw Leary argued that would really affect Meta is \u201ccomprehensive regulation.\u201d<\/p>\n
She said, \u201cIf the parties disagree about whether Meta is following the settlement terms, it will be a long road to litigate that. But if there was a federal law that precludes them from having certain design features, that would be much more powerful.\u201d<\/p>\n
Sister Helana Burns, a member of the Daughters of St. Paul, who holds a graduate degree in media literacy education, studied screenwriting at UCLA and can herself be found on the social media platform X, told OSV News she was \u201cthrilled that this issue is being taken so seriously, and that the funds are going to truly pertinent programs, including media literacy for youth and practical alternatives to engaging with a screen 24\/7.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cHowever,\u201d she added, \u201cI wish there were more programs and incentives for parents to learn skills and strategies for parenting the media.\u201d<\/p>\n
Clare Morell, a fellow at the Ethics and Public Policy Center in Washington, and author of \u201cThe Tech Exit: A Practical Guide to Freeing Kids and Teens from Smartphones,\u201d also had both plaudits and reservations.<\/p>\n
Morell termed the settlement \u201ca monumental step forward in changing the social media industry to protect our children.\u201d She noted \u201cit gets rid of many of the most dangerous and addictive features of social media platforms, and requires robust age-verification to keep underage minors off the platform and ensure that the new automatic safeguard features apply to all minors under 18.\u201d<\/p>\n
However, she said, \u201cit does nothing to change the age for social media in the U.S., which will still be 13 years old \u2014 whereas other countries like Australia and the U.K. have been raising the age to 16.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cIt also does nothing to change the addictive algorithms or give parents control of the algorithms,\u201d added Morell, \u201cand even the new two-hour-daily time limit set for Meta\u2019s apps can still be incredibly addicting for young brains; because in that two hours, a minor is getting constant hits of dopamine to his or her brain.\u201d<\/p>\n
Ultimately, she feels legislation is still necessary \u2014 as well as parental vigilance.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe best thing to do is still to keep children and teens off social media entirely,\u201d Morell said. \u201cYes, this settlement is a huge change for the industry in the right direction \u2014 but it is not a silver bullet.\u201d<\/p>\n
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