Nebraska could get more than $200M from Instagram settlement

Nebraska could receive more than $200 million as part of a nationwide settlement with the owner of Instagram and Facebook.

Attorney General Mike Hilgers said Wednesday that Nebraska could receive between $145 and $201 million from the $17.1 billion settlement with Meta.

The company that owns Facebook and Instagram agreed to the settlement with 47 states and three U.S. territories to resolve claims that it designed Instagram with addictive features, knowingly exposed young users to serious mental harm, and intentionally misled the public about the safety of its platforms, among other things.

Hilgers said the settlement is the largest state consumer protection settlement in history outside the Big Tobacco settlements of the 1990s.

“I think this is actually one of the biggest days in this office’s history,” Hilgers said.

According to Hilgers’ news release, in addition to paying $17.1 billion, Meta also agreed to a number of reforms going forward, including hard daily time limits for children on both Facebook and Instagram, limited access during school hours, better age verification processes and stronger parental controls.

“We got into this fight to protect kids, and this settlement is a historic step in that direction,” Hilgers said in the release. “This agreement provides meaningful, real, and durable changes that will make a big difference in the lives of kids and their parents.”

Instagram and Facebook will be restricted for kids under the age of 17 from midnight-6 a.m., and teenagers will get just two hours a day on the app unless a parent gives them permission for more. Notifications will also be silenced during school hours, from 8 a.m.-3 p.m.

Hilgers said Meta violated the Nebraska’s Consumer Protection Act and Uniform Deceptive Trade Practices Act by targeting kids and failing to clearly communicate to parents the impact of social media on their kids.

“My view is, if you're not going to ban these products, you have to be honest with parents about the tools and the harm,” Hilgers said. “They were not doing so.”

He expects the state will receive its first settlement payment this calendar year. That money will go into the state’s consumer protection cash fund and be made available to the Legislature to appropriate.

The settlement also resolves claims against Meta for its sharing of nonpublic information about Facebook users with third parties, like Cambridge Analytica, leading up to the 2016 election. As part of that settlement, Nebraska will receive more than $5 million