AG Jennings announces largest Big Tech settlement in history

Meta to pay Delaware up to $103 million, implement sweeping child safety reforms

Delaware to make generational investment in children's mental health

WILMINGTON, Del.-Attorney General Kathy Jennings today announced a landmark $12.1 billion multistate settlement with Meta Platforms, Inc.-one of the largest state consumer protection settlements in history, outside the Big Tobacco settlements of the 1990s.

Under the settlement, Delaware will receive a guaranteed $73.6 million over the next 10 years, beginning with an $11 million payment this year. The first-year payment includes a one-time monetary settlement of $4.2 million related to the Cambridge Analytica scandal. Under a contingency in the agreement, Meta will pay Delaware an additional $30 million, and nearly another $5 billion nationally, if other social media platforms-namely TikTok and YouTube-reach similar agreements with the states. In addition to the payment, Meta must implement a sweeping set of safety features designed to protect children on Instagram and Facebook.

"Our goal in this litigation was not just punitive. It was to create change," said AG Jennings. "Beyond the money, this agreement includes massive structural changes to the way that Meta targets young adults, which for years now has been addictive by design. We've seen up close how these apps have harmed kids, from youth who have suffered psychological harm, to those who have died by suicide, to those who have lost their lives or freedom because of crime that escalated over Instagram."

"This money is not a trophy. We were committed to real change in this suit, and we are committed to real change in the future. I am directing my office to put this money where it will make a difference: in our communities, with the very youth these apps have put at risk."

Roughly 75% of the monetary payments from Meta to settle this suit-over $50 million-will go toward teen health and safety, including but not limited to services for at-risk and justice involved youth, crisis intervention services, after school programs, and educational grants. The remainder of the recurring payments will go to the Delaware Consumer Protection Fund, which funds the DOJ's consumer protection, housing justice, and economic law enforcement work, including consumer fraud targeting young adults.

In addition to the payment, Meta must implement a sweeping set of safety features designed to protect children on Instagram and Facebook. The agreement resolves Attorney General Jennings' claims, along with those of other jurisdictions, that the company designed Facebook and Instagram 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. This settlement is a monumental victory for the protection of Delaware's children and those throughout the country. It will fundamentally transform how the entire social media industry designs products for kids and teens.

The DOJ's investigation into Meta demonstrated that its apps-including addictive features like infinite scroll-intensified the spread of harmful content, such as content promoting self-harm or glorifying crime and violence. As one of the country's only attorneys general with statewide criminal jurisdiction, Jennings and her staff have repeatedly seen youth violence escalate over social media platforms like Instagram. Content and messages posted to these platforms have become evidence in multiple violent criminal cases, including gang prosecutions and homicides.

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

• Hard cap daily time limits and "Productive Pauses" for children: for its two platforms, Instagram and Facebook, a combined two-hour daily time limit with mandatory pauses after 15 minutes of continuous use and again at 60 and 90 minutes to interrupt endless scrolling. These limits remain in effect for five years. If Snapchat, TikTok, and YouTube adopt comparable terms, the daily limit on each platform will drop to 60 minutes for 10 years.
• "Nighttime blocks" restricting children's access from 12:00 a.m. to 6:00 a.m.
• Limited school-time access for children, eliminating push notifications on weekdays from 8:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m. during the school year.
• Robust age assurance measures to more effectively verify the age of young users.
• Safer, age-appropriate content controls, including stronger safeguards against bullying, content promoting eating disorders, and content related to suicide and self-harm.
• Stronger, more user-friendly parental controls.
• Limits on social comparison features, including beauty filters and visible "like" counts, that have been linked to poor mental health outcomes in kids and teens.
• Both the implementation and efficacy of the features will be regularly assessed by an independent auditor and the settling states.

The settlement also resolves the states' claims against Meta for its sharing of nonpublic information about Facebook users with third parties, like Cambridge Analytica, leading up to the 2016 election.

The settlement is subject to approval by the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California. Joining Jennings in the settlement are the attorneys general of Alabama, Alaska, American Samoa, Arizona, Arkansas, California, Colorado, Connecticut, the District of Columbia, Georgia, Hawaii, Idaho, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Mississippi, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, Nevada, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, North Carolina, North Dakota, Northern Mariana Islands, Ohio, Oklahoma, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Puerto Rico, Rhode Island, South Carolina, South Dakota, Tennessee, Utah, Vermont, Virginia, Washington, West Virginia, Wisconsin, and Wyoming.