Meta pays big to settle monster lawsuit — and the terms will turn social media upside down

The useful part

A historic lawsuit spanning the United States and its territories ended abruptly this week, and its terms will make major changes to how children use social media. The lawsuit brought forth by 29 states accused Mark Zuckerberg's Meta platforms of knowingly being addictive and harmful to young users. 'This framework will only work if all our peers join us.' The case has been in trial since August 18 in the U.S.

How it works

• District Court for the Northern District of California, and it only took about a week for Zuckerberg and co.
• On Wednesday morning, a settlement was announced that will have Meta paying up to $18 billion over 10 years, while implementing new child safety protocols on its platforms, Variety reported.
• Social media overhaul New rules include a "hard cap" on daily time limits for children, totaling a combined two-hour daily limit across Instagram and Facebook, with mandatory pauses after 15 minutes of...
• to 6 a.m., to limited school-time access, with push notifications blocked for children between 8 a.m.
• Age "assurance" measures were described as being "robust," while Meta promised more parental control, safeguards against bullying, and limitations on harmful content.

What to take from it

The catch — and it's a big one — is that the usage limits are planned for just five years. At the same time, Meta said that it will drop its allowed usage to only 60 minute...

Details worth keeping

to come to an agreement with the accusing parties.