Georgia could receive nearly $135 million under a landmark multistate settlement with Meta Platforms that will also bring major changes to how children and teenagers use Facebook and Instagram. Georgia Attorney General Chris Carr announced the agreement Wednesday. The overall settlement is worth up to $17.1 billion and resolves claims from 47 states and several U.S. territories alleging Meta designed Instagram with addictive features, exposed young users to serious mental-health harms and misled the public about the safety of its platforms. Georgia is expected to receive close to $100 million, with its share potentially increasing to nearly $135 million. The agreement has been described by Carr’s office as the largest state consumer-protection settlement in history outside of the tobacco settlements of the 1990s. But the settlement could have an even more noticeable impact on families through new restrictions on how children use social media. Under the agreement, Facebook and Instagram will have a combined two-hour daily time limit for children, along with mandatory “productive pauses” after 15 minutes of continuous use and again after 60 and 90 minutes. The two-hour limit is scheduled to remain in place for five years. Children will also face a nighttime block from midnight until 6 AM, while push notifications will be eliminated during school hours — from 8 AM until 3 PM on weekdays during the school year. Meta must also implement stronger age-verification measures and…
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