The past two decades have seen an explosion in the use of social media, which has created significant concerns regarding safety and health, namely for young people.
In late August, Meta, the owner of Facebook and Instagram, reached a landmark settlement with 47 states, the District of Columbia, and U.S. territories for $17.1 billion in penalties following suits alleging the company violated federal child privacy and states’ consumer protection laws. This follows two cases in New Mexico that resulted in Meta being ordered to pay $375 million and an additional $567 million for misleading users about the safety of its platforms and enabling the sexual exploitation of young people. In addition to these settlements, Meta agreed to implement changes including limiting how long teenagers can spend on its platforms, interrupting the endless scrolling feature, and limiting usage and notifications at night and during school hours.
Meta is one of several social media companies accused of contributing to the public mental health crisis. For more than a decade, Mercy and ICCR partners have filed shareholder resolutions related to child safety at Alphabet, Apple and Meta, consistently asking how they assess risks related to their products and services being used to facilitate online child sexual exploitation; the impacts of deceptive advertising to children; and how these companies evaluate the effectiveness of their child safety measures. In 2026, Mercy partners co-filed a resolution that asked Meta to incorporate child safety metrics into its senior executive compensation program. Because Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg holds so much of the stock of the company, the resolution received 3.4% of the vote in support, but the subsequent lawsuits and settlement demonstrate the necessity of improved governance and oversight at all tech companies to ensure child safety online. Mercy Investment Services will continue to engage these companies to raise awareness and implement protections that will prevent harm to vulnerable people such as children.