Louisiana is set to receive $180 million over the next nine years as part of a landmark multistate settlement with Meta over allegations that Facebook and Instagram were designed to addict teenagers to social media. Attorney General Liz Murrill says she would like to see a portion of the money used to strengthen enforcement efforts aimed at stopping adults from using social media to prey on children.
“I think that we still have a huge problem in our state addressing some of the sex predators that are coming after our kids online,” Murrill said.
Murrill says some of the settlement money should also be used to educate young people about the potential dangers of social media.
“How to protect their own brains from the kind of addictive content that you see, and the algorithms that are used to drive content to them that can be harmful to them; even basically in how much time they’re spending online every day,” Murrill noted.
Multiple states sued Meta in 2023, alleging the technology giant designed platforms like Instagram to expose young users to serious mental harm. Murrill says some of Louisiana’s share could also go toward helping children harmed by excessive social media use.
“For some of the problems that have been created by the ubiquitous use of these apps and the consequences to society that have resulted from the addictive algorithms and the way that these companies have implemented them,” Murrill explained.
As part of the agreement, Meta has agreed to implement additional safety features on Instagram and Facebook, including a combined two-hour daily time limit, mandatory pauses after 15 minutes, nighttime restrictions, stronger age-verification measures and more user-friendly parental controls.