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New Jersey Attorney General Jennifer Davenport has announced a multistate settlement with Meta Platforms, Inc. worth up to $17.1 billion. This settlement is to resolve claims that the company designed Instagram and Facebook to be addictive to children and teens while concealing the resulting mental health harms.
The agreement, which still requires court approval, is being described as the largest state consumer protection settlement in U.S. history outside of the Big Tobacco settlements of the 1990s.
New Jersey co-led the multistate effort and is expected to receive between $525 million and $752 million from the case.
This comes on the heels of Gov. Sherrill signing of the Kids Code Act, which tells social media companies how they can treat kids.
What the Settlement Requires
Beyond the financial payout, the settlement mandates a series of product changes to Instagram and Facebook aimed at protecting younger users. Under the agreement, Meta must implement:
- A combined two-hour daily time limit for Instagram and Facebook, with automatic pauses after 15, 60, and 90 minutes of continuous use — in effect for five years
- Overnight access restrictions for youth accounts, blocking use from 12:00 a.m. to 6:00 a.m.
- Limited push notifications for children on weekdays from 8:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m. during the school year
- Stronger age-verification procedures
- New restrictions on features linked to poor mental health outcomes, including beauty filters and visible “like” counts
- Expanded safeguards against bullying, and content related to eating disorders, suicide, and self-harm
- Easier-to-use parental controls
- Independent audits of Meta’s compliance, to be reviewed by participating states
If Snapchat, TikTok, and YouTube agree to comparable terms, the daily time limit on each platform would drop to 60 minutes and the restrictions would extend from five to ten years.
Background on the Case
New Jersey began co-leading a bipartisan, multistate investigation into the social media industry in 2021, examining whether platforms were designed to be addictive to children despite known risks.
The resulting lawsuit, filed in 2023, alleged Meta built features into Instagram and Facebook that drove excessive use among children and teens which disrupted school-day focus and sleep while misleading the public about the severity of those risks.
Trial proceedings on Meta’s alleged deception began in Oakland, California, with a trial team led by Attorney General Davenport alongside the attorneys general of California, Colorado, and Kentucky. In total, the case involved attorneys general from 47 states, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, American Samoa, and the Northern Mariana Islands.
A Separate Data Privacy Settlement
Alongside the child safety case, the same group of jurisdictions resolved separate claims against Meta over its sharing of nonpublic Facebook user data with third parties, including Cambridge Analytica, ahead of the 2016 election.
Meta will pay more than $460 million to resolve those claims, with New Jersey receiving more than $20 million.
How Will the Money Be Used?
New Jersey has not yet released a specific plan for how it will allocate its share of the settlement. Meta has stated the broader settlement funds can go toward youth online safety initiatives and other state priorities, and reporting on the multistate agreement indicates a portion is intended for youth mental health programs, after-school programs, and crisis intervention services.
A state-by-state breakdown, similar to the spending plans New Jersey published after past settlements, typically follows once a settlement receives final court approval.
We’ll update this piece as New Jersey releases more specifics.
This settlement is subject to court approval and has not yet been finalized.
Source: NJ AG
