Meta is not actually committing to pay the $17.1 billion figure attached to this week’s child safety settlement, at least not on its own.
California Attorney General Rob Bonta, whose office led the case, put the settlement at “up to $17 billion,” saying Meta “must make massive transformations that will reduce the risk of harm from its platforms—and will do it within months.”
His release cited Meta’s own guaranteed figure of $12.7 billion. The District of Columbia’s attorney general, Brian Schwalb, put the guaranteed floor at $12.1 billion, with an additional $5 billion contingent on other platforms joining, for a $17.1 billion total.
Connecticut Attorney General William Tong’s release cited yet another figure, $12.19 billion guaranteed, and named the contingency pool: “TikTok, YouTube, and Snapchat, each facing state enforcement actions and investigations,” must agree to “comparable safety terms and monetary relief” before Meta owes the rest.
“To TikTok, YouTube and Snapchat,” Tong said, “our expectations are clear. You’re next.” None of the three states’ own releases agree on the guaranteed number to the dollar, and Tong’s is the only one who names Snap alongside TikTok and YouTube as a condition of the payout.
