ST. SPAUL, Minn. — On Wednesday, Aug. 26, Meta settled a case by 47 states, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico and the Northern Marianas Islands against the company for its addictive features that target and harm children. The company will pay up to $17 billion to the plaintiffs, including up to $307 million to Minnesota, and must implement safety features to protect minors on Instagram and Facebook.
Senator Erin Maye Quade (DFL-Apple Valley) is chief author of a 2026 Minnesota law that protects children online (HF 4138) and requires parental approval, and protections against addictive features and paid advertising for children age 15 and under. Senator Maye Quade releases the following statement:
“The first state law protecting kids on social media passed in 2023. At that point, Meta could have implemented safety features for every kid across our country. Instead, they made us fight state by state for safety protections and forced our attorneys general to sue the corporation — with taxpayers shouldering the cost of the litigation — to deliver this win for our children’s safety. I am grateful to Attorney General Keith Ellison and his team for securing this victory — they are incredible defenders of Minnesotans’ rights.
“While I celebrate this settlement, what we stand to gain pales in comparison to Meta’s profits. Consider Minnesota’s $307 million maximum payout next to Meta’s $201 billion revenue in 2025 alone. Meta’s profits come from the addiction it purposefully creates. Tech and social media companies owe society much more than $17 billion. They have turned our children into their products and eroded the social frameworks that hold our society together. And as if that wasn’t enough, Meta now pollutes my community’s air and water and devours our electricity with its Rosemount data center. These companies make us sick in mind and body, and Mark Zuckerberg — and every billionaire tech CEO — should answer to Americans for the harm they cause.”
The lawsuit alleged that Meta designed its platform Instagram with addictive features, knowingly exposed young users to serious mental harms, and intentionally misled the public about the safety of its platforms, among other things. Per the Minnesota Attorney General’s Office, Meta must enact new safety features to protect children ages 13-17 on Instagram and Facebook, including:
- Hard-cap daily time limits and “Productive Pauses” for children: for Instagram and Facebook, a combined two-hour daily time limit with mandatory pauses after 15 minutes of continuous use and again at 60 and 90 minutes to interrupt endless scrolling. These limits remain in effect for five years.
- If Snapchat, TikTok, and YouTube adopt comparable terms, the daily limit on each platform will drop to 60 minutes for 10 years.
- “Nighttime blocks” restricting children’s access from 12 a.m. to 6 a.m.
- If Snapchat, TikTok, and YouTube adopt comparable terms, the nighttime block would be extended from 10 p.m. to 7 a.m. for 10 years.
- Limited school-time access for children, eliminating push notifications on weekdays from 8 a.m. to 3 p.m. during the school year.
- Robust age-assurance measures to more effectively verify the age of young users.
- Feed options to adjust the algorithm and “doomscrolling.”
- Safer, age-appropriate content controls, including stronger safeguards against bullying, content promoting eating disorders, and content related to suicide and self-harm.
- Stronger, more user-friendly parental controls.
- Limits on social comparison features, including beauty filters and visible “like” counts, that have been linked to poor mental health outcomes in kids and teens.
The states and territories in this suit are Minnesota, Alabama, Alaska, American Samoa, Arizona, Arkansas, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, District of Columbia, Georgia, Hawaii, Idaho, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Mississippi, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, Nevada, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, North Carolina, North Dakota, Northern Mariana Islands, Ohio, Oklahoma, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Puerto Rico, Rhode Island, South Carolina, South Dakota, Tennessee, Utah, Vermont, Virginia, Washington, West Virginia, Wisconsin, and Wyoming.
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Learn more about Sen. Maye Quade.
