Meta, owner of Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp, was hit with a massive settlement of up to $18 billion, plus another $945 million in three separate fines, over findings linking its platforms to children’s addiction to social media. That’s a significant drop from the initial $1.4 trillion figure sought by California and 28 other states. Lawyers for the affected states have corrected that figure to $200 billion, but it appears Meta will pay about 10% of that so far, and that’s over 10 years between the affected states.
The social media conglomerate must now make changes to its platforms to prevent social media addiction. In addition to improving detection systems for knowing who is a minor user, these changes include a two-hour time limit on Facebook and Instagram, which can be disabled if the parent gives permission. According to Meta (via TechCrunch), it will be able to detect users trying to bypass the time limit with multiple accounts. Another facet of time management introduced is “Night Mode”, enabled by default, so that young users cannot access applications between midnight and 6 a.m., although direct messaging remains available.
Much of the changes depend on timing, as the Facebook company will also block push notifications (but not direct messages or alerts) from 8 a.m. to 3 p.m. on school days. Additional prompts will also appear every 15 minutes, compared to the current 60 minutes on teen accounts.
Instagram and Facebook give teens more control
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Much of the lawsuit comes from Meta’s manipulated algorithms that power the feeds, intended to keep users glued to their screens longer by delivering known content that will keep them engaged. This also relies on Meta’s massive data collection, once you agree to track the data. Adolescents will now be able to choose an unregulated diet, permanently. On Instagram, for example, the feed can be set to chronological, but will default to Meta’s custom feed when relaunched. This will then only display the tracked content.
Another method to reduce addiction rates among younger users is to turn off autoplay. Parents will be able to turn off autoplay, which has been described as requiring “more deliberate action,” to interact with the app. One of the latest additions to the Meta suite is that likes and reactions numbers have been hidden and would require parental controls to be re-enabled for underage users.
Meta called on other social media giants, TikTok and YouTube, to also implement the same changes they are forced to make. TikTok has rejected the idea, but legal experts say it, YouTube and Snapchat are all potential targets if legal action is launched again.
