Nebraska could get up to $201M of landmark $17.1B settlement with Meta

• LORI PILGER and ANNA KLEIBER Lincoln Journal Star

York News-Times Reprint

Nebraska will get up to $201 million of a landmark $17.1 billion settlement with social media giant Meta over claims about its addictive platforms endangering children.

Attorney General Mike Hilgers said the settlement, which resolves claims by 47 states, the District of Columbia and U.S. territories, was the largest state consumer protection settlement in history outside the Big Tobacco settlements of the 1990s.

“We got into this fight to protect kids, and this settlement is a historic step in that direction. This agreement provides meaningful, real, and durable changes that will make a big difference in the lives of kids and their parents,” Hilgers said in a news release Wednesday.

In addition to the payment, Meta has agreed to implement a sweeping set of safety features designed to protect children on Instagram and Facebook. The agreement settles claims alleging the company designed Instagram with addictive features, knowingly exposed young users to serious mental harms and intentionally misled the public about the safety of its platforms, among other things.

Hilgers called it a monumental victory for the protection of America’s children that “will fundamentally transform how the entire social media industry designs products for kids and teens.”

While Meta is the first major platform to reach a significant settlement, he said it was a systemic problem that extends “well beyond a single company.”

At a press conference Wednesday, Hilgers said one of his greatest focuses since being elected as the Nebraska attorney general has centered around the fight for stronger protections online for youth in the state.

“My view is, if you’re not going to ban any of these products, you have to be honest with parents about the tools or the harm. (Meta) was not doing so,” Hilgers said, adding that while the monetary relief is “very significant,” the primary goal of the case was to “help protect kids and empower parents.” 

Hilgers said parents will have the ability to opt out of the safety features for their children if they choose to do so but the restrictions will be the default for Nebraskans 17 and younger.

The safety features include:

* Hard cap daily time limits and “productive pauses” for children: for its two platforms, Instagram and Facebook, a combined two-hour daily time limit with mandatory pauses after 15 minutes of continuous use and again at 60 and 90 minutes to interrupt endless scrolling.

* “Nighttime blocks” restricting children’s from access between midnight and 6 a.m.

* Limited school-time access for children, eliminating push notifications on weekdays from 8 a.m. to 3 p.m. during the school year.

* Robust age assurance measures to more effectively verify the age of young users.

After a bipartisan, nationwide investigation found that Meta designed Instagram’s features to addict children while internally documenting the resulting mental health harms and failing to warn parents, attorneys general across the country sued Meta individually or as part of a consolidated federal lawsuit.

The settlement also resolves claims against Meta for its sharing of nonpublic information about Facebook users with third parties, like Cambridge Analytica, prior to the 2016 election. Nebraska will receive $5,146,813.

Nebraska is guaranteed to receive $145 million under the settlement, which includes the more than $5 million from the nonpublic information shared with third parties, and that the money will be paid out in increments over the course of 10 years, according to Hilgers. 

Hilgers said the state will likely receive the first payment of an estimated $33 million by the end of January 2027, if the settlement is approved. The settlement funds will go into the Consumer Protection Cash Fund, which is subject to appropriation by the Legislature.