Meta to Implement Safeguards to Protect Children and Pay New Jersey at Least $525 Million

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MDL Joint Motion for Entry | MDL Consent Judgment

TRENTON – Attorney General Jennifer Davenport today announced a landmark multistate settlement of up to $17.1 billion with Meta Platforms, Inc.—a historic step in protecting consumers and the largest state consumer protection settlement in history outside the Big Tobacco settlements of the 1990s.

Under this settlement, which is subject to court approval, Meta must implement a sweeping set of safety features designed to protect children and teenagers on Instagram and Facebook—fundamentally changing how the social media industry designs products for children and teens. Having co-led this multistate effort, New Jersey will also receive at least $525 million, and could receive over $752 million.

“As a parent, protecting your kids is always your North Star. And this agreement achieves critical protections for our children today,” said Attorney General Davenport. “It would not have been possible without our amazing litigation team, who worked with their counterparts across the country to bring this groundbreaking case.”

The agreement resolves claims by 47 States and the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, American Samoa, and the Northern Mariana Islands that the company designed its platform with addictive features, knowingly exposed young users to serious mental harms, and intentionally misled the public about the safety of its platforms, among other things.

The social media settlement requires Meta to implement a series of safety features on Instagram and Facebook, including:

·    A daily time limit of two hours combined for Instagram and Facebook use, with automatic pauses after 15 minutes of continuous use, and again after 60 and 90 minutes—to remain in effect for 5 years.

·    If Snapchat, TikTok, and YouTube adopt comparable terms, the daily limit on each platform will drop to 60 minutes, and extend to 10 years.

·     “Nighttime blocks” restricting youth access from 12:00 a.m. to 6:00 a.m.

·    Limited school‑time access for children, with limited push notifications on weekdays from 8:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m. during the school year.

·    Enhanced procedures to more effectively verify the age of users.

·    Stronger safeguards against bullying, content promoting eating disorders, and content related to suicide and self‑harm.

·    Parent controls that are easier to use and more effective.

·    Restricted social comparison features, including beauty filters and visible “like” counts linked to poor mental health outcomes in children and teens.

·    Independent audits of Meta’s implementation and the impact of these new safety features, reported to and reviewed by concerned states.

These changes to Instagram and Facebook are more significant and comprehensive than previously ordered by any court.

In 2021, New Jersey began co-leading a bipartisan multistate investigation into the social media industry for designing and promoting platforms to children and teens despite known harms. The nationwide investigation found that Meta designed Instagram’s features to addict children while internally documenting the resulting mental health harms and failing to warn parents.

The multistate lawsuit, filed in 2023, alleged that Meta, among other things, designed and deployed harmful features on Instagram and Facebook that drove excessive use by children and teens to their mental and physical detriment, distracting them during the school day and disrupting their ability to sleep at night, all the while misleading users, their families, and the public about the existence and severity of these risks.

The trial regarding Meta’s deception began in Oakland, California, last week, with the trial team led by Attorney General Davenport, California Attorney General Rob Bonta, Colorado Attorney General Phil Weiser, and Kentucky Attorney General Russell Coleman.

In total, Meta will pay a minimum of $12.1 billion, and up to $17.1 billion, to the States in the multi-district litigation to settle the 2023 lawsuit regarding its deceptive behavior regarding children. In addition to New Jersey, California, Kentucky, and Colorado, this group also includes Arizona, Connecticut, Delaware, Georgia, Hawaii, Idaho, Illinois, Indiana, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maine, Maryland, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, Nebraska, New York, North Carolina, North Dakota, Ohio, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, South Carolina, South Dakota, Virginia, Washington, West Virginia, and Wisconsin. The payments also go to District of Columbia, Massachusetts, Mississippi, New Hampshire, Oklahoma, Tennessee, Utah, and Vermont, which filed complaints in their own courts alleging that Meta violated numerous state laws, including deceptive trade, consumer fraud, unlawful trade, unjust enrichment, negligence, product liability, and public nuisance claims.

Many of the same jurisdictions today also announced the resolution of claims against Meta for its sharing of nonpublic information about Facebook users with third parties like Cambridge Analytica in the run-up to the 2016 election. Meta will pay more than $460 million to settle these separate data-privacy claims, of which New Jersey will receive more than $20 million.

Attorney General Davenport was represented and assisted in this matter by Assistant Attorneys General Kashif T. Chand and Brian McDonough within the Affirmative Civil Enforcement Practice Group of the Division of Law, Data Privacy & Cybersecurity Section Chief Thomas Huynh, Deputy Attorneys General Mandy Wang (Lead Trial Counsel for New Jersey), Verna Pradaxay, Patrick Misale, Iva Zovko, and Kathrine Hedayat of the Data Privacy and Cybersecurity Section, and Attorney Assistants Kate Gooler and Nadege Desir. Investigator Aziza Salikhova of the Office of Consumer Protection within the Division of Consumer Affairs conducted the investigation.