Hawaiʻi to Receive up to $76 Million in Landmark Meta Settlement to Strengthen Online Protections for Children
Attorney General Anne Lopez announced that Hawaiʻi has joined a landmark $17.1 billion multistate settlement with Meta Platforms, Inc., resolving claims involving Instagram and Facebook and requiring significant new safeguards for children and teens who use the platforms. Under the settlement, Hawaiʻi will receive up to $76 million.
The agreement requires Meta to implement a range of child-safety measures, including daily time limits and mandatory breaks, restrictions on overnight and school-time use, stronger age-assurance measures, enhanced parental controls and additional protections against harmful content. It also places limits on social comparison features, such as beauty filters and visible “like” counts.
Implementation and effectiveness of the new safeguards will be regularly assessed by an independent auditor and the settling states.
“The adverse mental health consequences associated with excessive, unregulated access to social media are well-documented. Despite knowledge of the consequences, social media companies failed to act independently to protect our youth,” said Attorney General Lopez. “The safety features, processes and independent monitoring required by this settlement will have a real-world positive impact for youth in Hawaiʻi.”
The settlement follows a nationwide investigation launched in 2021 into social media platforms and their impact on children and teens. It also resolves states’ claims involving Meta’s sharing of nonpublic Facebook user information with third parties, including Cambridge Analytica. Hawaiʻi will receive an additional $4.7 million related to those claims.
The agreement represents one of the largest state consumer protection settlements in U.S. history outside the Big Tobacco settlements of the 1990s and establishes new requirements intended to create safer online experiences for young people.
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