By: Corinne Smith, Alaska Beacon

Alaska is set to receive up to $23 million from Meta Platforms Inc. under a landmark $17 billion settlement agreement that would also require the company to implement a sweeping set of safety features for its social media platforms, aimed at protecting children from addictive features and harmful content.

The multistate settlement agreement was announced Wednesday that state officials are lauding as one of the biggest consumer protection settlements in history outside the Big Tobacco settlements of the 1990s.

New protections for teens, controls for parents included in Meta settlement

Time Limit: A default two-hour daily time limit that can only be turned off with a parent’s permission. Time spent scrolling on Facebook and Instagram counts toward the total.

Night mode: A default block from Meta apps between midnight and 6 a.m.

School Mode: Notifications will be muted by default between 8 a.m. and 3 p.m. During those hours, young people will no longer receive push notifications, except for direct messages and alerts about their account security or safety.

Regular Prompts: Young users will receive prompts after every 15 minutes of continuous screen time on Facebook and Instagram.

Algorithmic Feed Control:Young users will be able to choose a non-algorithmic feed — one that isn’t personalized by Meta’s recommendation system.

Autoplay Control: Young users will be able to turn off autoplay, so that content no longer automatically plays.

Hidden Likes: Young people won’t see the number of likes and reactions on posts — both their own and those from others — by default.

Disabling cosmetic surgery and extreme makeup filters: Young users will not be able to use extreme makeup filters.

Direct messaging features will be excluded from Night Mode, Time Limit and School Mode restrictions.

Meta, the owner of Facebook and Instagram, would be ordered to pay the up to a $17.1 billion penalty to 47 states, the District of Columbia and several U.S. territories. The final settlement remains subject to approval by the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California, where the case was filed. 

Alaska leaders praised the announcement in a statement on Wednesday. 

“As a mom of two, I can’t tell you what a relief this settlement brings to me knowing there will be better safeguards on Meta’s platform to keep teens healthy and positively engaged,” said Acting Attorney General Cori Mills. 

Gov. Mike Dunleavy called the settlement a “necessary and imperative step” to protecting children. 

“Social media promised us connection and the ability to productively engage with each other in life’s joyful and mundane moments. What social media gave us was a generation of children scarred by bullying, harassment, doom-scrolling and predation,” Dunleavy wrote. “This is a good first step towards protecting our children from online dangers, and I hope we see more actions like this in the future.”

Mills also praised the work of attorneys general across the country “regardless of political party” and their consumer protection teams for pursuing the case. “It is only through that collaboration that settlements like this are possible,” she said. “This truly is a historic moment, and I am hopeful it sets the precedent for social media platforms going forward.”

The settlement ends a high-stakes lawsuit first filed in federal court in California in 2023, where states argued that Meta purposefully designed addictive social media features in order to maximize profits, illegally collected data on children and teens, and repeatedly misled the public about the harms of social media use.

Meta denies wrongdoing, and that it has any liability to the plaintiffs.

The company agreed to the settlement, which also requires major changes to Facebook and Instagram features for young users. That includes a daily two-hour time limit and frequent prompts to restrict endless scrolling; night time blocks from midnight to 6 a.m.; muted notifications during school hours; a choice of a non-algorithmic feed that is not personally tailored by Meta; hidden social comparison features, like beauty filters and “like” features, and others.

Under the settlement agreement, Meta sought similar restrictions on its competitors, TikTok and Youtube. Meta agreed to pay out 70% of the settlement, $12.7 billion, to states initially. The company agreed to pay the remaining 30%, or $17.1 billion total, only if TikTok and Youtube agree to implement a one-hour daily limit, night mode and age assurance measures. TikTok and Youtube must also agree to pay roughly $5.3 billion in penalties to states.

Alaska is expected to receive $16 million over the next 10 years, and up to $23 million if the other social media platforms agree to the terms, according to a spokesperson with the Alaska Department of Law. 

Meta reports 3.9 billion active users on its social media apps each month, worldwide. 

The company still faces thousands of lawsuits across the country from individuals and school districts accusing them of fueling harmful content and addiction in children, and inadequate safety features.