A multistate deal with tech giant Meta could send Idaho as much as $127.7 million over claims that Facebook and Instagram made design choices intended to induce children into becoming addicted to their platforms.
As the Idaho Capital Sun reported, the settlement, involving 47 states and the District of Columbia, totaled $17.1 billion. The deal also requires Facebook and Instagram to modify features that were intended to keep young people engaged.
Here's what to know
According to the Idaho Attorney General's Office, Idaho's portion of the multi-billion-dollar settlement would likely fall between $89.2 million and $127.7 million.
The state attorneys general and Meta finalized the agreement before a determination could be reached at trial. NPR reported that the money is slated to be paid out over the next decade.
Raúl Labrador, the Idaho Attorney General, framed the dispute as a challenge to platform design decisions that he described as deliberately harmful to children. In the states' view, Meta created systems that pushed users toward repetitive, compulsive engagement in the hopes of creating lifelong users.
Among the cited features were frequent notifications, access during overnight hours, publicly displaying the number of "likes," and filters that modify users' appearances.
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More background
Rather than focusing only on specific posts, the lawsuit centered on how the platforms themselves were built. State officials argued that Meta intentionally structured its products to keep children engaged as long as possible, disregarding psychological risks.
Among other mandated changes, the agreement would cap daily app use at two hours and require breaks after extended sessions.
Per Idaho Capital Sun, the agreement also requires that Meta keep children off its apps from midnight to 6 a.m., pause push notifications during the school day, verify the ages of younger users, strengthen parental controls, and curb "social comparison features" such as public like totals and beauty filters.
What's being done?
Proponents hope that, by setting product-level guardrails, the settlement will address the root causes of social-media overuse by minors.
C.J. Mahoney, Meta's Chief Legal Officer, said rival platforms, including TikTok and YouTube, should follow "Meta's lead," NPR reported.
The settlement could also influence how tech companies design products used by children.
"Protecting children in Idaho is one of the most critical responsibilities of my office," Labrador said, per Idaho Capital Sun. "Intentionally engineering any product to addict children is unconscionable. Meta's design was a cynical attempt to create a lifetime user, regardless of the psychological damage and harm our children were exposed to."
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