Tennessee Attorney General Jonathan Skrmetti says other social media and technology companies should "be paying very close attention" to Meta's approximately $18 billion settlement over allegations that its platforms harmed children — and he expects more enforcement actions to follow.

"I think you're going to see the next domino fall very soon," Skrmetti told FOX Business, arguing the agreement sets a precedent for holding social media, artificial intelligence and other child-facing platforms accountable.

Meta announced Wednesday that it had reached an agreement with 52 attorneys general across states, U.S. territories and Washington, D.C., to pay up to $18 billion and overhaul teen experiences on Facebook and Instagram. The settlement, which requires approval by the federal judge in California overseeing the consolidated social media litigation, resolves claims filed by 47 states. The deal grew out of lawsuits filed in October 2023 by a bipartisan group of attorneys general, who alleged that Meta deliberately designed Instagram and Facebook to be addictive for young users and misrepresented their safety. Those complaints followed mounting scrutiny of social media's effects on youth mental health, including a 2023 U.S. surgeon general's advisory stating there was insufficient evidence to conclude the platforms are safe for adolescents.

Sweeping design changes

"The most important thing is that all of the design decisions that made Instagram dangerous for kids are being addressed," Skrmetti said. "So, there are guardrails in place, there are time limits. Parents have much more control over what their kids are going to see. There's more transparency there. So, it's going to make it a better experience for kids."

According to Meta, the agreement requires time limits, nighttime restrictions, stronger age checks and expanded parental controls for users under 18 — safeguards that go beyond anything Congress has mandated to date. The Kids Online Safety Act, which would write similar teen-safety duties into federal law, passed the Senate 91-3 in July 2024 but stalled in the House and has not become law, leaving state attorneys general and the courts as the primary force shaping youth online-safety rules.

"The goal is to eliminate all of the triggers for mental health problems that were baked into the platform as a result of the effort to make it so addictive," Skrmetti said.

Skrmetti said the changes to Meta's platforms are ultimately more important than the financial penalty. "They agreed to some pretty sweeping changes, and that's way more important than the money," he said.

Payment structure and oversight

Meta said the payments will be distributed annually over 10 years, with participating states receiving approximately $12.7 billion. Another $5.3 billion will be released only if TikTok and YouTube implement specified child-safety measures and make matching payments.

The total places the agreement among the largest ever negotiated by state attorneys general, approaching the roughly $26 billion that states and local governments secured from three major drug distributors and Johnson & Johnson in 2021 over the opioid crisis.

An independent auditor will assess Meta's implementation of and compliance with the agreement, according to the company.

"If kids are still at risk, if some of these features aren't addressed in a way that meaningfully changes the danger of the platform for young users, the auditor will be in a position to make that public," Skrmetti said. The states would then be able to seek enforcement of the agreement, he added.

Pressure on the rest of the industry

Skrmetti said companies that have not reached similar agreements could increasingly become the focus of litigation. "As fewer and fewer participants in the industry have not entered a deal like this, they're going to be under incredible pressure because all of the litigation focus is going to be on them," he said.

Meta is not the only platform facing such claims. Hundreds of lawsuits from families, school districts and public entities over addictive design and harm to young users have been consolidated in a federal multidistrict litigation in Oakland, California, where TikTok, YouTube and Snap are also defendants.

He said the settlement should also serve as a warning to the broader technology industry. "If they're designing exploitive elements into the platform that take advantage of kids and the vulnerabilities of kids' brains, there will be consequences down the road for that," he said.

Skrmetti also credited the bipartisan coalition that negotiated the agreement. "I think it's kind of inspirational that you had people who have very different political opinions come together and work to do right by America's kids," he said.

Meta's response

Meta said the agreement builds on its existing efforts to protect teens and give parents greater control over their children's use of its platforms.

"Ensuring teens have a safe and productive experience on our platforms is an absolute imperative for Meta," the company said in a statement. "We want to get this right for parents and teens, and that's why we partnered with state attorneys general to set a new industry standard."

A Meta spokesperson referred FOX Business to comments from Chief Legal Officer C.J. Mahoney, who called on TikTok, YouTube and other platforms to adopt the same safeguards.

"The framework we've negotiated will empower parents to easily manage how their children access our platforms," Mahoney said. "Our new Time Limit commitments, Night Mode features and usage limits during school hours set the right path forward for our whole industry, but this framework will only work if all our peers join us. Because teens move fluidly across dozens of apps, we need an industry-wide solution. We therefore call on our industry peers, TikTok and YouTube, to implement this new framework, right away.

"As a parent, I'm proud of both the work Meta has done to protect kids historically and of this new groundbreaking agreement. But its success depends on all other social media platforms following Meta's lead."

YouTube and TikTok could not immediately be reached by FOX Business for comment.

Source: Fox Business