(Picture credit Attorney General’s Office)
Attorney General Mike Hilgers celebrated his office reaching a multistate settlement with Meta for over $17 billion, forcing the company to implement child-safety changes to its social media platforms.
“We got into this fight to protect kids, and this settlement is a historic step in that direction. This agreement provides meaningful, real, and durable changes that will make a big difference in the lives of kids and their parents,” Hilgers said Wednesday.
Hilgers called the settlement “one of the biggest days in the history of the Nebraska Attorney General’s Office.”
The settlement resolves claims from a 47-state coalition that sought damages against Meta. Nebraska will receive between $145 million to just over $200 million in the settlement agreement.
The attorney general said Meta was not being honest with consumers about its products.
The new restrictions require Meta to put hard caps for daily usage by kids, allowing a combined two hours daily between Instagram and Facebook. Hilgers said the platform would be “inoperable” for anyone under 17-years-old from midnight to 6 a.m.
Other reforms include limiting notifications during school hours, stronger content and parental controls, and limits on “social comparison features” such as “likes” on posts and beauty filters.
Hilgers said there was the option for parents to opt-out of restrictions, but that these would be the default options for the social media platforms moving forward.
The settlement follows a 2021 investigation begun by attorneys general across the country that found that Meta was designing social media features with the intent of making children addicted to its social media platforms. Nebraska was key in the initial investigation into the platform, with Hilgers calling the fight against Meta on the issue the “brainchild” of his predecessor Doug Peterson.
Hilgers said the historic settlement win came because the coalition had the courage to “fight to the end” and were not willing to be “bought off” by the industry.
The Plains Sentinel has reached out to Meta for comment.
— John Gage is the executive editor of The Plains Sentinel.