Missouri to receive at least $100 million in Meta settlement

COLUMBIA, Mo. (KMIZ)

The State of Missouri is set to receive millions of dollars as part of a $17.1 billion settlement with Meta Platforms, Inc.

According to a news release from Attorney General Catherine Hanaway, Missouri will receive between $100 million and $150 million. 

“As a mother, I know how critical it is to shield kids from predators, addictive material, and content that harms their mental health," Hanaway said in a statement.

According to the settlement, payments will be made within 30 days after a state enters a consent judgment or formally agrees to the settlement.

It is unclear if Missouri has filed for a consent judgment.

Once received, it will be up to the General Assembly to distribute funds. The final consent judgment from Tennessee's suit suggests funds go to public programs like crisis intervention services, after-school and summer programs or internet safety training.

Along with resolving claims in 47 states, the settlement also requires Meta to add new safety features for child and teen Instagram and Facebook accounts. The new safety features will be in place until 10 years after the settlement takes effect.

These features include:

• Mandatory "Productive Pauses" to break up lengths of endless social media use. There will be a warning at 15 minutes, a break at 60 minutes then another break at 90 minutes.
• "Nighttime blocks" to restrict access to only messages from midnight to 6 a.m.
• Limiting push notifications on weekdays from 8 a.m. to 3 p.m. during the school year.
• Extensive age verification measures
• Stronger parental and content controls, limiting content that may promote eating disorders or self-harm
• Limits on features like beauty filters and "like" counts

Meta will also work to promote parental controls over underage accounts. If linked to an account, parents would be able to see how long their child spends on social media, usernames of their child's social media connections as well as profiles of reported accounts. Parents will also be notified if their child repeatedly searches for terms related to suicide, self-harm or eating disorders.

Hickman High School 11th-grade students, Ava McKinney and Adrienne Martin, are not opposed to the changes.

"I immediately get on social media when I go home, it's just what I do," McKinney said. "I think the limits are really good because spending more than 5 hours on social media is like not good, you could be spending that time doing homework, socializing, doing stuff with your family."

"Four or five hours, once I get home on Social media, I mean, I know it's not healthy, but it's just addictive," Martin said. "The limit for beauty filters is awesome because again, insecurity is a really big thing, especially with like young teenage girls, beauty filters are not something that should be normalized."

"Meta’s willingness to acknowledge the harm and take meaningful corrective action is an important step forward for the safety of children across the country," Hanaway said in a statement.

The lawsuit began in 2021 when states began to investigate the social media industry, claiming major companies knew of the harm social media causes. Meta did not admit wrongdoing as part of the settlement.