State attorneys general involved in the case hailed the agreement as a major step toward combatting the negative effects of incessant social media use on Facebook and Instagram, including mental and even physical harm. Said Washington, D.C. attorney general Brian Schwalb after the settlement, “The physical, mental and emotional harms that intentionally addictive social media platforms inflict on youth—and particularly teenage girls—are widespread across the tech industry, and this successful, coordinated multi-state litigation has resulted in Meta being the first platform to come to the table and agree to such comprehensive reforms.” The triumphant official concluded, ominously for other social media companies, “It will not be the last.”
Indeed, Meta has been taking plenty of L’s recently, with just yesterday a Los Angeles jury awarding $6 million (split between plaintiffs Meta and YouTube) to a teenage girl the jury concluded was harmed by deliberately designing a product that would lead to, in the girl’s case, emotional distress (including social dysfunction and body dysmorphia) and self-harm. A day previously, a New Mexico jury penalized Meta $375 million for misleading consumers about the safety of using their platforms, including exposing them to child sexual exploitation materials. Meta has denied all these claims, to no avail.
Of course, with Meta’s net worth of more than a trillion dollars, and founder Mark Zuckerberg himself worth an estimated $200 million, these rulings might seem like drops in the “acceptable loss” bucket. But critics including California AG Rob Bonta are confident that the rapid acceleration of legal penalties might just curb some of Facebook’s worst excesses. “Meta has agreed to make massive transformations that will reduce the risk of harm from its platforms,” said Bonta, “and will do it within months.”
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