3 Big Questions After Meta’s $18 Billion Teen Safety Settlement

The settlement has an unusual quirk: Meta agreed to pay 70% of the settlement total—some $12.7 billion—over the next decade. But the remaining $5.3 billion is conditional, depending on whether YouTube and TikTok implement similar or more restrictive settings, including a one-hour daily time limit. 

At a time when Meta faces fierce competition in the teen market from those competitors, the company is planning to run full-page print ads on Thursday in the The Washington Post, New York Times and the Los Angeles Times calling to make those settings the “new industry standard.” Neither TikTok nor Google, which owns YouTube, have commented.

In the past, tech companies have often copied one another’s safety policies. How competitors will respond to Meta’s settlement agreement is an open question.  

In addition to the action brought by state attorneys general, school districts and families have filed thousands of lawsuits against tech platforms including Meta, Google, Snap, and TikTok, alleging that the design of their products caused harmful consequences for teens.  In March, a jury found Meta and YouTube’s product design led to the mental distress of a young woman, and ordered the companies to pay $4.2 million and $1.8 million in damages respectively.