Meta, the owner of social media platforms Facebook, Instagram, Threads, and messaging app WhatsApp, has agreed to pay up to $18 billion to settle with the lawsuit filed against them across 29 US states.

The lawsuit alleged that Meta built their platforms to be addictive for children, even as it caused harm and impact of social media on them.

The amount 18 billion seems more like a slap to the wrist, since Meta has earned 200 billion last year. It is also the price they are willing to pay to not move the lawsuit into a jury trial. A jury trial would have meant a group of chosen ordinary citizens must listen to the facts of a trial and evaluate evidence presented, and it is them who will make a verdict. Whereas a settlement is where both parties have agreed to an outcome.

This is not a problem isolated within the digital walls of Meta alone, and Meta knows it. They posted a call to action to TikTok and YouTube to join them in protecting teens. It was the most “If we’re going down, you’re going down with me” kind of thing.

Developed with 52 state attorney generals, Meta will launch a set of protections, which include adding time limits on social media use, showing daily usage analytics, and prompts to encourage “intentional” use. That last one may mean encouraging teens to use social media only when they actually need to and not simply open the app and start doomscrolling.

Other protections include blocking notifications on times when the teens are supposed to be in school. Also, blocking the number of likes and reactions from their posts and others’ posts. “Extreme makeup filters” will also be blocked.

Meta will also invest in improving their age verification.