Meta will pay up to $18 billion and add stricter child safety measures to Facebook and Instagram after a historic legal trial over teen social media addiction.
The social media giant settled claims in 47 states, where portions of the money will be distributed over 10 years, according to the ruling. The money can be used for mental health initiatives, like after-school and summer programs and digital literacy counselors, the Associated Press reports.
New safety features will be added to the two social media platforms that will automatically apply to users under 18, including a daily two-hour time limit that only parents can turn off and “night mode,” which blocks access between midnight and 6 a.m.
Another addition aims to keep students focused in the classroom. “School mode” automatically mutes notifications between 8 a.m. and 3 p.m., except for direct messages and alerts about their account security.
“Ensuring teens have a safe and productive experience on our platforms is an absolute imperative for Meta,” the company said in a blog post. “We want to get this right for parents and teens, and that’s why we partnered with state attorneys general to set a new industry standard.”
The company also encouraged TikTok and YouTube to take similar action.
School districts versus social media
Meta is still involved in legal battles with individual school districts throughout the country. On Monday, Washington’s Blaine School District joined a nationwide lawsuit involving nearly 2,000 school districts against the parent companies of Facebook, TikTok, Instagram and others, according to My Bellingham Now.
The lawsuit accuses the companies of designing their platforms to maximize screen time, an issue that led major school districts to impose time restrictions for students using school-issued devices.
In June, the Breathitt County School District won $27 million in a settlement with Meta, Snap Inc. (Snapchat), TikTok and YouTube to address student mental health concerns allegedly caused by their social media platforms. The case was labeled a bellwether trial, or test case, for social media addiction claims by school districts.
The payments from the settlement totaled 8% more than the district’s $25 million annual budget, Bloomberg Law reported at the time, including more than $2 million from YouTube, which also agreed to provide the district with training programs to help teachers use its product in classrooms.
Screen time
Meanwhile, district leaders are navigating growing tensions with parents over how to balance edtech innovation with “purposeful” screen time.
Many educators argue that “blanket bans” don’t teach students how to navigate technology and the online world safely, as digital literacy initiatives do.
“Students are going to work around it [technology bans],” Janice Jackson, executive director of the Aspen Institute’s Education and Society Program, told District Administration in the latest episode of the “DA Changemakers” podcast.
The former CEO of Chicago Public Schools urged district leaders to let educators, rather than vendors, lead the conversation on classroom tools.
She suggested that administrators look closely at “bottom-up” procurement—tools that teachers and principals are already buying and using—as a metric for what actually works in the classroom.
