Meta agrees to pay billions for social media addiction claims

The Atlantic sought the expertise of Mark Bartholomew, professor of law, in a report on Meta’s $17 billion settlement over social media addiction claims. He said that “state [attorneys general] got Meta to consent to dramatic limits on its own speech that Congress was unlikely to go for and the courts were unlikely to bless.” The company is now promoting the changes widely and calling on other social-media platforms to follow suit. It has also agreed to pay an additional $5.3 billion if TikTok and YouTube, which are also defendants in the ongoing litigation, implement restrictions and pay into the settlement. “Obviously, Meta doesn’t want to unilaterally disarm in the war for user attention while its rivals are allowed to continue,” Bartholomew noted.