Attorney General Steve Marshall announced that the state of Alabama reached a settlement with Meta Platforms, Inc. over allegations involving the safety of children on social media platforms. A total of $17 billion will be distributed nationwide, with $117 million going to Alabama.
The settlement requires Meta to implement several changes to how children use platforms like Facebook and Instagram. Among the changes are limits on daily usage, nighttime access restrictions, stronger parental controls and additional protections against harmful content involving bullying and eating disorders. The agreement also requires Meta to strengthen its age-assurance measures and limit certain social comparison features including, beauty filters and visible “like” counts for younger users.
Nancy Brinson, an advertising and public relations associate professor in the College of Communication & Information Sciences (C&IS) and faculty affiliate with the Institute for Information and Communication Research (ICIR), researches the psychological and policy dimensions of personalized advertising in digital media. She has also presented on children, privacy and social media to a state commission.
“This settlement marks an important shift from asking children and parents to manage the risks of social media entirely on their own to requiring technology companies to accept responsibility for the environments they design,” Brinson said. “Time limits, nighttime protections, reduced notifications and restrictions on social-comparison features introduce meaningful safeguards into platforms that have historically been built to maximize attention and engagement.”
While Brinson said the changes do not fully address the risks young people face online, she sees the settlement as establishing an important standard for technology companies.
“These changes are not a complete solution, but they establish an important principle: protecting young users must be a fundamental design responsibility, not an optional feature,” Brinson said.
Marshall called the settlement a major step forward in holding large technology companies accountable for the safety of children online. Independent monitoring will evaluate whether Meta is complying with the requirements and whether the changes are effective.
For additional information about the settlement, view the full press release here.