Technology
Meta agrees to $18 billion child-safety settlement with state attorneys general
The 10-year deal mandates new platform restrictions for minors while raising questions over the reliability and privacy risks of age-verification technology.
The short version
- Meta settled a child-safety lawsuit with a group of 52 U.S. state attorneys general, agreeing to pay $18 billion over 10 years without admitting wrongdoing.
- The agreement mandates major design changes on Facebook and Instagram for minor accounts, including screen-time limits, overnight blocking, and hidden like counts.
- Experts express concern over the settlement's reliance on age-verification technologies, citing existing technical limitations and potential user privacy risks.
- A key condition ties roughly 30% of Meta's total settlement payment to whether competitors TikTok and YouTube also adopt the new safety guidelines.
Key facts
- Meta reached an $18 billion settlement over 10 years with 52 state attorneys general to resolve claims regarding child safety on its platforms.[TechCrunch]
- Meta did not admit to any legal wrongdoing as part of the agreement.[TechCrunch]
- Proposed terms for minor accounts include a default two-hour daily screen limit, overnight access blocking between midnight and 6 a.m., and muted notifications from 8 a.m. to 3 p.m.[TechCrunch]
- The settlement mandates hiding like counts on posts for teenage users by default.[TechCrunch]
- Approximately 30% of Meta's settlement payout is contingent on whether TikTok and YouTube implement similar guidelines.[TechCrunch]
What remains uncertain
- It remains uncertain how effectively Meta can implement age-verification tools given expert concerns regarding the accuracy and data privacy risks of biometric, ID, and behavioral checks.[TechCrunch]
- Whether competitor platforms like TikTok and YouTube will adopt the guidelines to trigger the conditional 30% portion of the settlement payment is unresolved.[TechCrunch]