Key points:

• Meta agreed to a $17.1 billion settlement that will be paid to 51 states and territories

• Arizona will get at least hundreds of millions of those funds

• Attorney General Kris Mayes wants settlement funds to be used for mental health counseling at public schools

Arizona will receive about $223 million over the next decade from the owner of Instagram following a $17.1 billion settlement between the media giant and the states that had sued over social media’s effect on children.

State Attorney General Kris Mayes announced the deal with Meta Platforms on Wednesday, saying she hopes the money goes to public schools for mental health counseling services to children who are addicted to or struggling with social media use. However, the state hasn’t yet decided how to spend the money.

“This is the most important thing I think I will ever do as attorney general,” Mayes, a single mother of a 13-year-old daughter, said during a Wednesday news conference. 

The landmark settlement resolved claims filed by 48 states, Washington, D.C., and other U.S. territories that alleged Meta designed Instagram with addictive features and knowingly exposed children to harm. It is one of the largest consumer protection settlements in U.S. history.

Under the deal, Arizona will receive the funds over the next 10 years. The state’s allocation could rise to $300 million if other social media companies like YouTube, Snapchat and TikTok also agree to pay damages as part of the settlement.

Of the 51 states and territories in the settlement, Arizona received the 32nd highest amount of money. Mayes said each state’s allocation was calculated based on several factors, including population counts and whether a state had filed a lawsuit against Meta. 

California will receive the most money among states in the settlement, with its maximum payment exceeding $2.1 billion. The only other state that could get more than $1 billion is New York at $1.1 billion.

Many studies have linked social media use to negative mental health outcomes for children. In 2023, the U.S. Surgeon General released a social media advisory linking frequent social media use to negative effects on impulse control, social behavior, and emotional regulation among children and teens. 

“One day, we will look back on today as the beginning of the end of the bad old days when children had unfettered access to products designed to addict them and expose them to serious mental harm,” Mayes said. 

Along with the payouts, Meta must also implement several safety features on Instagram and Facebook for children’s accounts, including: 

• a daily two-hour time limit that will remain in effect for five years
• mandatory pauses after 15 minutes of continuous use to interrupt endless scrolling
• nighttime blocks restricting children’s access from midnight to 6 a.m.
• no push notifications on weekdays from 8 a.m. to 3 p.m. during the school year
• age verification for young users
• age-appropriate content controls with safeguards against bullying, content promoting eating disorders, and content related to suicide and self-harm.
• limits on social comparison features, including beauty filters and visible like counts
• stronger parental controls, including an option for parents to change their child’s home feed from showing algorithmic content to chronological content

In a Wednesday news release, Meta called on YouTube and TikTok to join the company in its new account standards, noting that teens will simply find another app if they are restricted on Instagram or Facebook. 

“Because teens move fluidly across dozens of apps, we need an industry-wide solution. We therefore call on our industry peers, TikTok and YouTube, to implement this new framework, right away,” Meta’s Chief Legal Officer C.J. Mahoney said in a statement. “As a parent, I’m proud of both the work Meta has done to protect kids historically, and of this new groundbreaking agreement. But its success depends on all other social media platforms following Meta’s lead.”

The settlement requires Meta, which also owns Facebook, to pay about $12.7 billion to states over the next 10 years, which is about 70% of the settlement. The remaining funds will be released only if YouTube and TikTok implement similar safety measures and pay a matching 30% figure shared between the two companies. 

The agreement also requires an independent auditor to test and report Meta’s compliance with the settlement requirements annually for the next five years. 

Mayes said her office will share more details about how Arizona’s settlement money will be used in the coming months once money starts to appear in its consumer remediation and restitution account.