Meta has reportedly reached a $16 billion settlement with 29 states involving claims that its social media platforms "harmed young users." Not only have Facebook and Instagram reportedly "fueled" a nationwide mental health crisis, but the addictive nature does not help. Following the settlement, Meta will need to roll out changes to its platforms to reduce the addictive nature for younger users with usage limits and more.

Lawsuits have been filed against Meta in several states over the past few months over how its social media platform addict children. Another has been settled, pushing Meta to shell out over $16 billion. A major settlement such as this isn't the only thing Meta is forced to do. Following coverage by Reuters, Meta will also need to make sweeping changes to how younger audiences interact with its platforms.

For context, this $16.68 billion settlement involved claims from 29 states. Each state claimed that Meta's social media platforms (Facebook and Instagram) "harmed young users." Specifically, these platforms reportedly "fueled a nationwide youth mental health crisis." Meta has continued to disagree with these allegations. Regardless, to reduce the "addictive nature" of its platforms for younger users, Meta will restrict nighttime use of Facebook and Instagram. Meta will also beef up its defenses to keep kids away from "age-restricted" content, while introducing a new daily usage limit.

The addictive or potentially mentally harmful sides of social media were the highlights behind these claims. However, Reuters mentions another side of these claims that also makes up this $16 billion settlement: child privacy. According to the post, the 29 states claim Meta "violated the federal Children's Online Privacy Protection Act" by collecting data from kids without consent. What's more, Meta allegedly used this data to train its AI systems. It should only be a matter of time before we see the result of this settlement hit Facebook and Instagram for youth accounts.