Puerto Rico will receive at least $124.7 million from Meta as part of a multistate settlement that also requires new protections for children and teenagers using Instagram and Facebook.
The Puerto Rico Meta settlement will bring the island at least $124.7 million as part of a sweeping multistate agreement that will also require significant changes to the way Facebook and Instagram operate for children and teenagers.
The agreement resolves a lawsuit filed by Puerto Rico’s Department of Justice in December 2024 alleging that Meta designed features on Instagram and Facebook to encourage excessive and potentially addictive use among minors while failing to adequately disclose the possible effects on their mental health. Meta does not admit liability under the settlement.
Justice Secretary Lourdes L. Gómez Torres announced Puerto Rico’s participation Wednesday, calling the agreement a major judicial milestone for the island. Puerto Rico’s guaranteed $124.7 million share will be paid in 10 installments, while an additional $53.7 million could become available if TikTok, YouTube and Snap agree to comparable protections for younger users.
At least half of Puerto Rico’s proceeds must be directed toward programs addressing alleged harms associated with social media use among children and young people. The Department of Justice said that work will be coordinated with the Department of Health, the Mental Health and Anti-Addiction Services Administration, known as ASSMCA, and the Department of Education.
The settlement goes considerably further than a financial payment.
Meta will be required to introduce new protections governing how minors use Instagram and Facebook, with compliance monitored by an independent auditor for five years. The changes include stronger age-verification systems intended to identify teenage users and children younger than 13, along with limits on how long minors can spend consuming content on Meta’s platforms.
Under the agreement, minors will face a two-hour daily limit on content use across Meta platforms. That could fall to one hour per platform if other major social media companies adopt equivalent terms. The platforms must also introduce mandatory breaks after 15 minutes of continuous use and at additional points after users accumulate 60 and 90 minutes of activity.
Nighttime access will be restricted, while a school mode will block notifications during school hours. Younger users will also be given the option of viewing a feed that is not personalized by Meta’s recommendation algorithms and does not automatically play content.
Other provisions are aimed at detecting secondary accounts used to avoid age restrictions, strengthening parental supervision and reducing exposure to content or features that could encourage harmful social comparison. The settlement specifically addresses filters that simulate cosmetic procedures, according to information released by Puerto Rico’s Justice Department.
The scale of social media use among Puerto Rico’s young people was central to the government’s case. Gómez Torres said the lawsuit estimated that approximately 76% of children in Puerto Rico use Instagram, while more than two million residents use at least one Meta platform.
Puerto Rico filed its case through the Justice Department’s Office of Monopolistic Affairs on Dec. 19, 2024, in San Juan Superior Court. The government alleged that Meta’s business model encouraged prolonged engagement among younger users because greater platform use generates greater economic value for the company.
The Puerto Rico case became part of a much larger legal confrontation between Meta and governments across the United States. More than 40 jurisdictions participated in the settlement negotiations, alongside related litigation being handled in federal multidistrict proceedings in California and in state courts.
Puerto Rico lawmakers have also pursued their own proposals this year dealing with age verification, data collection, parental controls and other protections for minors using social networks.
For Puerto Rico, however, one of the next questions will be how the $124.7 million is actually spent.
The agreement establishes that at least half must be used to address issues involving children and young people, but the government has not yet publicly outlined a detailed program-by-program allocation of Puerto Rico’s proceeds. Decisions involving Health, ASSMCA and Education will determine whether the settlement ultimately finances mental-health services, prevention programs, education campaigns or other initiatives.
The Department of Justice said it plans to submit a consent judgment to the San Juan court to formally implement the agreement. It also said it continues to evaluate the practices of other social media platforms operating in Puerto Rico.
Meta’s payment therefore settles one major case, but it is unlikely to end Puerto Rico’s scrutiny of how social media companies interact with minors.
Sources: Metro Puerto Rico, El Nuevo Día, Puerto Rico Senate
