Connecticut could receive up to $265.4 million from Meta under a settlement requiring major changes to Instagram and Facebook for minors.
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Connecticut could receive up to $265.4 million under a multistate settlement with Meta Platforms Inc. that requires sweeping changes to how Instagram and Facebook operate for children and teens.
Attorney General William Tong announced the agreement Wednesday, saying it resolves claims by a multi-state coalition of attorneys general that Meta designed Instagram with addictive features, knowingly exposed young users to mental health harms and misled the public about the safety of its platforms.
Meta will pay states $12.19 billion over 10 years. The total could rise to $17.1 billion if TikTok, YouTube and Snapchat agree to comparable safety measures and monetary relief. The agreement still requires approval from U.S. District Judge Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers in the Northern District of California.
Connecticut’s share would come with spending restrictions. At least half must go toward addressing harms associated with youth social media use, including mental health and crisis intervention services, after-school and summer programs, and phone-free school zones, according to Tong’s office. The state said the agreement is its largest settlement with a single defendant.
The agreement also requires Meta to make a series of changes to Instagram and Facebook. For five years, children would face a combined two-hour daily limit across the two platforms, with mandatory breaks after 15 minutes of continuous use and again at 60 and 90 minutes.
Meta also must block children’s access from midnight to 6 a.m. and eliminate push notifications on weekdays from 8 a.m. to 3 p.m. during the school year. Other requirements include stronger age-verification measures, additional safeguards around harmful content and parental controls that can disable algorithmic feeds and autoplay.
The settlement also limits certain social-comparison features, including beauty filters and visible “like” counts. An independent auditor and the states that joined the agreement will monitor the changes and assess whether they are effective.
Meta has denied wrongdoing. The company said its payment under the agreement will be made in annual installments over a decade. The settlement was reached as a federal trial over the states’ allegations was underway in California.
For Connecticut, the agreement also resolves a state-led multistate investigation into Meta’s sharing of nonpublic Facebook user information with third parties, including Cambridge Analytica, ahead of the 2016 election.
Tong described the settlement as a “floor, not a ceiling” for Meta’s obligations. Connecticut lawmakers this year passed legislation restricting social media companies from exposing minors to addictive algorithms and notifications without parental consent. The law also establishes default settings for privacy, time of use and notifications, with parental consent required to change certain defaults.
Those Connecticut provisions are scheduled to take effect in 2028.
