Meta Agrees to $17 Billion Settlement in U.S. Teen SNS Addiction Lawsuit... Implements Shutdown Policy
Settlement Reached with 47 U.S. States for $17 Billion
Usage for Under-18s Limited to Two Hours per Day
Meta has agreed to pay $17 billion (approximately 23.53 trillion won) in settlement for lawsuits filed by U.S. state governments, which accused the company of encouraging social networking service (SNS) addiction among teenagers. Shutdown policies will be implemented for Meta's SNS platforms, Facebook and Instagram. It is also anticipated that other SNS companies, such as TikTok and YouTube, will take similar measures in the future. A decline in user engagement is expected to negatively impact the companies’ revenue.
According to CNBC on the 26th (local time), Meta submitted a settlement agreement to the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California on this day, reflecting the terms agreed upon with 47 state governments. This agreement will take effect upon final approval by the court.
Meta will initially pay $12 billion to the state governments. If these governments reach similar settlements with other major SNS providers, such as TikTok, YouTube, and Snap, Meta will pay additional settlement amounts commensurate with those agreements. Meta estimates the additional payment could reach around $5 billion.
Separately, to address the issue of teenage SNS addiction, shutdown measures will be implemented. Users under the age of 18 will be allowed to use Facebook and Instagram for only two hours per day. Access will be blocked during late-night hours from midnight to 6 a.m. Lifting these restrictions will require parental approval. During the school term, a "school mode" will apply from 8 a.m. to 3 p.m. on weekdays, allowing only peer-to-peer message notifications.
In particular, accounts belonging to teenagers, who are typically the most active SNS users, will switch to a "depersonalized feed," which displays only posts from accounts they have chosen to follow, rather than the so-called "infinite scroll" where artificial intelligence (AI) continually recommends new content. By default, teen accounts will be set to private, and additional protections will be established to prevent adults from discovering or contacting teenagers individually.
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Other SNS companies are also expected to introduce similar youth protection measures. Meta's Chief Legal Officer, C. J. Mahoney, emphasized at a press conference, "We have outlined the right direction for the entire industry," and urged industry peers TikTok and YouTube to "immediately implement this new framework."
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