NASHVILLE, Tenn. (WTVF) — A historic $17.1 billion multi-state settlement addresses Meta's role in exposing young users to serious mental harm and intentionally misleading parents about its safety of Facebook and Instagram.
Tennessee and Colorado coordinated the 47 states + territories and Tennessee led the charge on the investigation.
Tennessee Attorney General Jonathan Skrmetti says he was confident with our state's consumer protection laws and began the trial in the courtroom and negotiations in Davidson County. Skrmetti says," There were a lot of documents showing that they were aware that their product, which was designed to be addictive, was having really bad mental health impact on kids. And there were a lot of representations, a lot of representations that they made publicly that it was a safe product. And so from a consumer protection standpoint, we had evidence that the product was dangerous and that they knew it was dangerous. We had evidence that they were misleading the public about that."
Tennessee will receive $750 million in the settlement and will go directly to Tennessee's new Children's Digital Protection Fund to protect and restore mental health and safety of children. Skrmetti says they are already fighting with TikTok and expect to file more lawsuits in the future with other companies.
