The Maryland Office of the Attorney General finalized an agreement with Meta, sending $327M in settlement funds to Maryland for deliberately designing products to be addictive to children and teenagers, while misleading parents and the public about the risks.
Maryland is set to receive up to $327 million from a multi-state settlement with Meta over allegations that Instagram and Facebook were designed with addictive features that harmed children and exposed young users to serious mental health risks. The settlement, announced by Attorney General Anthony Brown on August 26, still requires federal court approval.
In addition to the payment, Meta will be required to implement new safeguards for young users, including screen-time limits, nighttime access restrictions, stronger age verification, school-hour notification limits, and additional protections against harmful content. One caveat here is the this does not directly impact or impede the cases, previously covered on Conduit Street, against Meta and other social media companies that have been separately filed by local school systems in Maryland.
For Maryland counties and local governments, the important question is what happens to the state’s share of the settlement. The settlement itself does not appear to establish a detailed local spending formula, similar to the opioid settlement. It is also unclear whether the Maryland General Assembly will re-consider a framework bill for these types of settlement funds – SB 602 – that would direct money from social-media-related settlements into an Algorithmic Addiction Fund administered by the Maryland Department of Health. Under that proposal, funds could support statewide needs assessments, treatment and intervention services, prevention programs, research and training, and evidence-based efforts addressing the mental and physical health impacts associated with algorithmic addiction. The legislation specifically contemplated grants and resources reaching local health departments, local school systems and other local entities.
The portion of the settlement document speaking specifically to how funds are used in Maryland says:
For the State of Maryland, the money received by the Office of the Attorney General of Maryland shall be used in accordance with Maryland law, including for consumer protection enforcement or consumer education, to defray the costs of the inquiry leading hereto, or for any other public purpose.
What the General Assembly ends up deciding could make the settlement particularly relevant to counties and school systems already dealing with youth behavioral health, student wellness and digital-literacy challenges. Potential investments could include school-based prevention and media-literacy campaigns, mental health and intervention services, training for educators and health professionals, and other programs aimed at reducing the effects of problematic social-media use. This leaves an important policy question for state lawmakers when deciding how to use these funds as they approach the balancing of a multi-billion dollar shortfall in the coming fiscal year.
Settlement amounts below:
