The Puerto Rico Department of Justice has said only in general terms that at least half of the $124.7 million Meta must pay Puerto Rico, as ordered by a California court in August, will go toward remedying harm caused to minors. But the department has declined to specify how all the money will be distributed, despite multiple requests from the Centro de Periodismo Investigativo (CPI).

On Aug. 26, Meta agreed to pay more than $17 billion to 47 states and four territories that sued the company, alleging that its social media platforms Instagram and Facebook are addictive to minors and that Meta misled the public about the mental health harms caused by its platforms.

The Justice Department filed the consent judgment on Sept. 11, specifying the accounts into which the compensation will be deposited and how the money will be used. According to the document provided to the CPI, Meta’s payments, spread over a decade, will be deposited into a trust account established by the Government of Puerto Rico and used for the purposes set out in the agreement, including remedying harm, as well as for purposes permitted under Puerto Rico law.

Meta did not admit liability for the addiction its social media platforms cause among children and young people who use them but agreed to the settlement to avoid going to trial. The compensation the company will pay may be invested in crisis intervention services; summer or after-school programs; public health and digital wellness education campaigns; outdoor activities; youth mental health programs; hiring digital literacy advisers; training medical providers on social media use and dysmorphia; grants to school districts or other public entities to carry out the remedies sought in the lawsuit; research, litigation or similar efforts to improve minors’ safety on social media; and any other restitutionary or remedial purpose.

Asked by the CPI for specific details about how the funds will be used, the Justice Department referred to statements by Antitrust Affairs prosecutor Samuel Wiscovitch Corali, who said at a news conference in late August that “although the agreement establishes parameters for the use of those funds … it also allows, within the framework of public policy, for example, an executive order to be issued creating an advisory committee … that can define and plan the proper use of those funds.”

Since a coalition of more than 40 jurisdictions led by the attorneys general of Colorado and Tennessee reached the settlement with Meta in August, few states have detailed how they will use the funds. Puerto Rico is expected to receive its first payment of $12,467,026.29 in January 2027, according to the agreement.

Justice Secretary Lourdes Gómez Torres noted in a news release that approximately 76% of Puerto Rican children use Instagram and more than 2 million Puerto Rico residents use a Meta platform. Puerto Rico has a population of 3.2 million.

“I commit to working in coordination with the Department of Health, ASSMCA [Mental Health and Anti-Addiction Services Administration] and the Department of Education to promote the well-being of our children with these funds,” Gómez Torres said in August, although she did not respond to the CPI’s requests for details on exactly how the money will be distributed among the agencies or how it will be invested.

Among the changes Meta promised to make to its platforms are limiting the amount of time minors can spend on them and the hours when they can connect, eliminating like counts, and offering a feed that is not personalized by an algorithm and does not autoplay content. An independent auditor will verify compliance with these changes for five years.

In 2025, the technology multinational reported more than $60 billion in profits.

Several States’ Plans

California, the state that will receive the most money, set aside $50 million from the first two payments for youth grants or consumer remediation measures, at the attorney general’s discretion. About $20 million will go to the Unfair Competition Law Fund, $9 million to the Public Rights Law Enforcement Special Fund, $1 million to the Privacy and Piracy Fund, and $10 million to the General Fund.

Iowa is the first state to create a $25 million restitution fund, or reserve to compensate victims, for Facebook and Instagram users. Another $10 million will go toward creating the Protect Iowa Students program for schools. Another portion of the money will go toward prosecuting online child sexual exploitation cases and modernizing the Attorney General’s Office technology to help investigators manage cases involving social media. Another $49 million will go to the General Fund.

Delaware said it will allocate 25% of its compensation to the Department of Justice and 50% for the governor and state attorney general to distribute among remedial programs, such as youth mental health hotlines, school programs and digital education, among others.

Will Other Platforms Follow the Same Path?

If the social media platforms TikTok, YouTube and Snapchat adopt protections equivalent to those Meta Platforms was required to implement for minors, Puerto Rico could receive an additional $53.7 million on top of the $124.7 million already agreed to in the Meta lawsuit, the Justice Department said in its news release.

The agreement stipulates that 30% of the more than $17 billion would be paid to the states only if Meta’s competing platforms — YouTube, TikTok and Snapchat — implement similar new safety features, such as limiting daily use to one hour, blocking access or providing a nighttime mode, and measures to verify users’ ages. According to Facebook and Instagram’s parent company, this contingency would set an industry precedent, ensuring that teenagers have consistent protections across the apps they use most.

Most of the changes must remain in effect for a decade, but the time limit and nighttime mode will begin with a five-year commitment. “If other companies in the industry join the agreement, that commitment will be extended to 10 years and stricter default limits will be established,” Meta said in a statement.

TikTok avoided going to trial after agreeing to pay Alabama $100 million and implement time limits and other restrictions for teenage users, one month after Meta’s out-of-court settlement. If another 40 attorneys general sign similar agreements with the company within a specified period, TikTok could pay the states up to $300 million.

Digital Addiction or Problematic Use

In 2021, former Facebook product manager Frances Haugen compiled documents that she leaked to The Wall Street Journal after becoming frustrated with the company’s lack of transparency about the potential harm caused by its platforms and its resistance to correcting those problems. The documents showed, among other things, that executives knew some toxic and addictive content for young Instagram users was more easily monetized. Publication of the Facebook Files paved the way for the multistate lawsuit that was settled on Aug. 26.

Although the World Health Organization (WHO) formally recognizes gaming disorder as a mental health condition, it does not generally classify digital or social media use under an addiction diagnosis. However, WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus and French President Emmanuel Macron acknowledged in July that digital overexposure can affect adolescents’ physical and mental health.

“Available evidence links digital overexposure to anxiety, depression, lack of sleep, increased aggression and, in extreme situations, suicidal behavior, particularly among vulnerable adolescents. Digital marketing on platforms can also expose users to the promotion of harmful products, such as tobacco, alcoholic beverages and gambling platforms,” according to the WHO publication.

“Social media, video games and AI can exacerbate feelings of loneliness and leave less room for in-person relationships. In addition, prolonged use can increase sedentary behavior and reduce sleep, two known risk factors for noncommunicable diseases,” they added.

Carlos Albizu University professor Andrés Cruz Santos prefers to speak of problematic use rather than digital addiction because “research says that the amount of time people spend connected is not what we need to take into consideration,” but rather the type and “quality of the things they are doing,” when connected because, ultimately, “we are all users.” He pointed out   context is essential in mental health diagnoses. “Something can trigger depression, but that doesn’t mean the depression is caused by that trigger. You have to look at the context. Where did that teenager grow up, where is the family, why are they playing video games, what kind of video game?”

The psychologist acknowledged that some people show greater dependence and become more overstimulated by their phones or the internet than others, but that does not mean they are addicted. “If we did a general study in which all of us left our phones at home one day and went to work without them, I assure you that all of us would experience symptoms of anxiety. In my research, the people with problematic behavior are adults, not children,” he said.

In the United States, 48% of teenagers say they lose track of how much time they spend using their cellphones, 25% use social media to forget about their problems, and another 25% acknowledge spending a considerable amount of time thinking about social media apps, according to an American Medical Association editorial published last summer.

The editorial also noted that 17% of young people tried unsuccessfully to reduce their social media use and that 11% acknowledged that screen use negatively affected their school performance. For the American Medical Association, these statistics demonstrate the need to study screen addiction and its health effects to address the risks it poses to the well-being of children and young people.

Cruz Santos referred to another study he conducted in which he found that younger people, those under 21, tend to compare themselves with other internet users or with content shared by others more than adults do.

Before the settlement with Meta Platforms, other countries had taken measures to protect children’s health in digital environments, according to information provided by Ghebreyesus and Macron.

In Australia, social media platforms are prohibited from allowing children under 16 to have user accounts. In France, a law was advanced to prohibit children under 15 from accessing social media, but the French Constitutional Council struck it down less than a month after it was approved. Indonesia prohibited access for children under 16. Ireland is working with European Union partners to establish restrictions and age-verification systems, while the United Kingdom has proposed barring social media access for children under 16 and restricting livestreaming and contact with strangers.

Edelson PC

Since 2021, the Justice Department has retained Illinois law firm Edelson PC to provide legal services and advice and to represent Puerto Rico in the investigation and litigation against Meta, at a rate of $500,000 a year. The firm also represented New Hampshire, Utah, Vermont and the District of Columbia.

The $500,000 amount established in Edelson’s contract was an estimate because the firm will be paid on a contingency-fee basis, meaning it is paid only if a favorable judgment or settlement is obtained. Following the settlement reached last August, the firm will receive 25% of the compensation secured for Puerto Rico in the lawsuit settlement, or $31,167,565.73.

The Edelson team has “litigated some of the most significant and cutting-edge cases involving class actions, mass litigation, public-impact cases and investigations on behalf of public entities … we have secured $5 billion, and our cases, collectively, have helped obtain $45 billion for our clients through settlements and judgments,” according to the law firm’s website. The firm also notes that it has attorneys and technology experts who investigate and develop new cases.

The most recent renewal of the contract between Edelson and the Justice Department was on Sept. 8, extending it through June 2027.

This translation was generated with the assistance of AI and reviewed by our editorial team to ensure accuracy and clarity.