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Pennsylvania will receive $516 million as part of a nationwide settlement with Meta, the technology company that owns and operates Facebook, Instagram, WhatsApp and Messenger, Attorney General Dave Sunday announced at a Harrisburg press conference Wednesday.
"This settlement will bring the following: a complete transformation of young users' experience on those platforms, and hundreds of millions of dollars to the Commonwealth over the course of the next nine years," Sunday said. "This settlement is significant not only because of the monetary amount involved but, most importantly, because of the injunctive relief we have won ... To be very clear, this settlement is not just about money; it includes meaningful protections aimed at addressing the harms that social media can cause young people."
Pennsylvania was part of a federal lawsuit filed against Meta, which included 47 states, the District of Columbia and U.S. territories, alleging the company violated Consumer Protection Laws by designing features on Instagram and Facebook to drive excessive use among children and teens. The court proceedings began in Oakland, California earlier this month.
The total settlement amount is roughly $17.1 billion, marking the largest settlement in history involving a big technology company, Sunday said. The total includes an initial $12.7 billion payment from Meta to fund youth online safety initiatives, as well as an additional $5.3 billion contingent on other major social media companies agreeing to the same sweeping changes. At trial, Meta was potentially facing $1.4 trillion in penalties.
Pennsylvania is expected to receive $516 million -- and up to $729 million -- over several years.
Meta has agreed to an array of new child safety measures on Facebook and Instagram. They include a two-hour daily time limit that only parents can lift. Additionally, the platforms will remind kids after 15 minutes of continuous use with additional reminders at 60 and 90 minutes.
The limits will be in place for five years. If Snapchat, TikTok and YouTube also comply, the maximum daily time limit will drop to 60 minutes and the standard would remain in place for a decade.
Teens will also be given the option to disable autoplay and choose a non-algorithmic feed. Likes and other reactions to posts will be turned off by default.
Other changes to the platforms include a block on youth access between midnight and 6 a.m., and no notifications during school hours.
"The framework we've negotiated will empower parents to easily manage how their children access our platforms," C.J. Mahoney, Meta's chief legal officer, said in a statement. "Our new Time Limit commitments, Night Mode features and usage limits during school hours set the right path forward for our whole industry, but this framework will only work if all our peers join us."
Meta on Wednesday issued an open letter to TikTok and YouTube asking them to implement the same measures.
The Meta settlement is the latest development in Sunday's Protecting Pennsylvania's Children campaign, which seeks to hold social media platforms accountable for encouraging compulsive use among young people.
Yesterday, Sunday announced a lawsuit against Snap Inc., the owner and operator of Snapchat, alleging the social media company violated Pennsylvania's Consumer Protection Law by misrepresenting adult content and using tactics that encourage compulsive use among young people. He also announced a similar lawsuit against TikTok earlier this month.
"Companies that design and build products in the hands of millions of children every day have an absolute responsibility to build safe platforms and to be honest about them," Sunday said. "Our children should not have to trade their mental health to keep up with modern communication platforms. They should be able to be kids. That's what this agreement is about. Their childhood should belong to them, not an algorithm."
The settlement is not final until judicial approval. The timeline for settlement payments begins 30 days from when the judge signs the order.