CECILIA KANG, ELI TAN2026年8月27日Meta位于加利福尼亚州的总部。 Jason Henry for The New York TimesMeta on Wednesday reached a landmark settlement with 47 states, the District of Columbia and U.S. territories, agreeing to pay up to $17.1 billion in penalties and make major changes to its products over claims it endangered children with addictive social media platforms.In a dramatic capitulation, the owner of Facebook and Instagram agreed to the financial penalties for violating federal child privacy and states’ consumer protection laws, the states announced. Meta also agreed to limit how long teenagers can spend on its platforms and to bans on features that stoke mental health issues, striking at the heart of the company’s business of engagement for advertising.周三，Meta与47个州、哥伦比亚特区及美国各属地达成了一项具有里程碑意义的和解协议，同意支付最高达171亿美元的罚款，并对其产品进行重大调整，该公司被指控通过令人上瘾的社交媒体平台危害儿童。各州宣布，这家拥有Facebook和Instagram的公司同意因违反联邦儿童隐私法和各州消费者保护法接受经济处罚，这是一次戏剧性的让步。Meta还同意限制青少年在其平台上的使用时长，并禁止使用会引发心理健康问题的功能，这直接打击了该公司以用户参与度换取广告收入的核心业务。“The focus of this case was to protect our kids: stopping notifications and alerts at night and when they are in school, encouraging them to take breaks from social media, protecting them against harmful features,” said Colorado’s attorney general, Phil Weiser, in a statement. The agreement exceeded what most courts might order, he added.“此案的重点是保护我们的孩子：在夜间和他们在校期间停止推送通知和提醒，鼓励他们在使用社交媒体时休息片刻，保护他们免受有害功能的影响，”科罗拉多州总检察长菲尔·韦瑟在声明中表示。他补充说，该协议超出了大多数法院可能作出的裁决范围。The settlement effectively ends a bellwether federal trial in the U.S. Northern District of California in Oakland, where California, Colorado, Kentucky and New Jersey were seeking roughly $200 billion over accusations that Meta harmed children. The states filed their agreement with Meta on Wednesday morning in that court, and Judge Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers approved it.这项和解实际上结束了在美国加州北区联邦地区法院（位于奥克兰市）一场具有风向标意义的联邦审判。在该案中，加利福尼亚州、科罗拉多州、肯塔基州和新泽西州指控Meta伤害儿童，寻求约2000亿美元的赔偿。周三上午，各州在该法院提交了与Meta达成的协议，法官伊冯娜·冈萨雷斯·罗杰斯批准了该协议。Separately, Meta said on Wednesday that it settled with Texas for about $1 billion over similar allegations. The company still faces numerous other lawsuits from school districts and individuals, some of which are scheduled for trial in the coming months.此外，Meta在周三表示，它已就类似指控与得克萨斯州达成了约10亿美元的和解。该公司仍面临来自学区和个人的众多其他诉讼，其中一些定于未来几个月内开庭审理。Meta’s stock rose on the news, closing up just over 1 percent. The company is valued at $1.47 trillion and most recently generated $60.8 billion in quarterly revenue.受此消息影响，Meta的股价上涨，收盘涨幅略超1%。该公司估值为1.47万亿美元，最近一个季度的营收为608亿美元。The settlement could signal an inflection point for a social media industry that has largely escaped regulatory scrutiny over the harms its products have caused children. The amount, paid in installments over 10 years, is one of the highest ever reached by a tech company to states.这项和解可能标志着社交媒体行业的一个转折点，此前该行业的产品对儿童造成伤害的问题在很大程度上逃脱了监管审查。这笔分10年分期支付的款项是科技公司向各州支付的最高和解金额之一。“Meta wouldn’t settle unless it sees the writing on the wall and feels really exposed,” said Nora Freeman Engstrom, a law professor at Stanford University.斯坦福大学法学教授诺拉·弗里曼·恩格斯特罗姆说：“除非Meta觉得大势已去，并感到自己真的已经无处可藏，否则它不会和解。”The full value of Meta’s payout depends on whether other social media companies also settle with the states and agree to financial penalties and product changes. Meta will initially pay about $12 billion. It will pay an additional $5 billion if Snap, TikTok and YouTube also settle with the states and agree to financial penalties and product changes.Meta最终需支付的总额取决于其他社交媒体公司是否也与各州达成和解，并同意接受经济处罚和产品调整。Meta最初将支付约120亿美元。如果Snap、TikTok和YouTube也与各州达成和解，并同意接受经济处罚和产品调整，Meta还将额外支付50亿美元。In a call with reporters on Wednesday, Meta’s legal team said the company negotiated the terms of its settlement to require the other companies to join, setting industry standards that would not single out Meta.在周三与记者的电话会议中，Meta的法律团队表示，该公司在协商和解条款时要求其他公司加入，以确立不单独针对Meta一家的行业标准。Meta wants to ensure “teens have a safe and productive experience on our platforms,” and it “partnered with state attorneys general to set a new industry standard,” C.J. Mahoney, Meta’s chief legal officer, wrote in a blog post. He implored other companies to settle.Meta希望确保“青少年在我们的平台上得到安全、富有成效的体验”，并且它“与各州总检察长合作制定了新的行业标准”，Meta首席法务官CJ·马霍尼在一篇博客文章中写道。他恳请其他公司也达成和解。“This framework will only work if all our peers join us,” he added. “Because teens move fluidly across dozens of apps, we need an industrywide solution.”“只有所有同行都加入我们，这一框架才能奏效，”他还说。“因为青少年会在几十个应用程序之间流畅地切换，我们需要一个全行业的解决方案。”The agreement may also play into other legal claims against Meta, TikTok, YouTube and Snap, the owner of Snapchat. States, schools and teenagers have filed thousands of lawsuits against the tech companies, accusing them of targeting young users with product features that are as addictive as cigarettes or digital casinos, drawing inspiration in part from a legal playbook used against Big Tobacco in the 1990s.该协议也可能会对针对Meta、TikTok、YouTube以及Snapchat的所有者Snap的其他法律诉求产生影响。各州、学校和青少年已经对这些科技公司提起了数以千计的诉讼，指控它们针对年轻用户推出具有成瘾性的产品功能，其成瘾性堪比香烟或数字赌场。这些诉讼在一定程度上借鉴了20世纪90年代针对大型烟草公司所采用的法律策略。The tech companies have argued that they have added safety features for children and are protected by a law, Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act, which shields companies from liability for what their users post.科技公司则辩称，他们已经为儿童增加了安全功能，并受到《通信规范法》第230条的保护，该条款免除了公司对用户发布内容的责任。Some of the lawsuits were grouped into a series of bellwether personal injury cases brought by individual teenagers in California state court; some are scheduled for trial in October.其中部分诉讼被归入加利福尼亚州法院一系列由青少年个人提起、具有风向标意义的人身伤害案件；部分案件定于10月开庭审理。A separate group of federal cases is being heard in Oakland, of which some states were a part. School districts have also brought cases accusing the companies of public nuisance for the costs that schools have shouldered from social media addiction.另一组联邦案件正在奥克兰审理，上述部分州也参与了其中。学区也提起诉讼，指控这些公司构成了公共妨害，因为学校承担了由社交媒体成瘾带来的成本。Meta has faced an uphill battle with some of these lawsuits. In March, Meta and YouTube lost their first personal injury case, paying $6 million in damages. Separately, a New Mexico judge ordered Meta this month to pay penalties totaling nearly $1 billion in a case brought by the state attorney general for violations of consumer protection laws.Meta在应对其中一些诉讼时面临艰巨挑战。今年3月，Meta和YouTube在首起人身伤害诉讼中败诉，支付了600万美元的赔偿金。另外，新墨西哥州的一名法官本月在一桩由州总检察长提起的违反消费者保护法的案件中，裁定Meta支付总计近10亿美元的罚款。Meta said it will continue to fight the other lawsuits, and that it is confident it can quash any additional personal injury claims.Meta表示，它将继续对抗其他诉讼，并有信心驳回任何额外的人身伤害索赔。Meta首席执行官马克·扎克伯格。该公司目前仍面临多起其他诉讼，其中部分案件定于未来数月开庭审理。The company’s decision to settle acknowledges its vulnerability as the trials have shaped a negative narrative about its treatment of young users. Mark Zuckerberg, Meta’s chief executive, has had to defend himself against evidence that he knew of harms caused to children. He had been expected to testify again at the trial in Oakland.该公司决定和解，相当于承认了自身的脆弱性，因为这些庭审已塑造出关于它对待年轻用户方式的负面舆论。Meta首席执行官马克·扎克伯格不得不针对“他知晓对儿童造成的伤害”这一证据进行辩护。他原定还将在奥克兰的庭审中再次作证。Last month, Meta said that it had spent about $2 billion in the second quarter alone to handle its legal challenges.上个月，Meta表示，仅在第二季度，它就花费了约20亿美元来应对法律挑战。The agreement also ends a trial brought by Tennessee’s state attorney general against Meta for consumer protection violations.这项协议还结束了田纳西州总检察长因Meta违反消费者保护法对其提起的诉讼。The settlement will effectively force Meta to make major product changes for all U.S. teen users. The company agreed to interrupt endless scrolling and to impose two-hour daily time limits on Instagram and Facebook. To avoid addictive use and sleep interruptions, the company will limit usage between midnight and 6 a.m. and silence notifications during school hours of 8 a.m. to 3 p.m.这项和解协议将有效迫使Meta针对所有美国青少年用户实施重大产品调整。该公司同意中断无限页面滚动功能，并对Instagram和Facebook设置每天两小时的使用时间限制。为了避免成瘾使用和睡眠中断，该公司将限制午夜至早上6点之间的使用，并在早上8点至下午3点的上课时间屏蔽通知。Meta will also limit features that psychologists link to negative social comparisons, such as beauty filters and a tallying of the “like” button clicks. It will also strengthen age verification tools and parental controls.Meta还将限制被心理学家认为与负面社会攀比有关的功能，例如美颜滤镜和“点赞”次数统计。它还将加强年龄验证工具和家长控制功能。The agreement between Meta and the states also imposes tougher penalties and higher costs if other social media companies reach similar agreements. For example, if YouTube and TikTok also settle litigation previously brought by the states, Meta would reduce its daily time limits on Instagram and Facebook to one hour from two.Meta与各州达成的协议还规定，若其他社交媒体公司也达成类似和解，Meta将面临更严厉的处罚和更高的成本。例如，若YouTube和TikTok也就此前各州提起的诉讼达成和解，Meta将把Instagram和Facebook的每日使用时长限制从两小时减至一小时。The aim is to pressure the other social media companies into agreeing to the same rules, creating an industry standard that doesn’t overly penalize or single out Meta.这样做的目的是向其他社交媒体公司施压，迫使它们同意相同的规则，从而创建一个不会过度惩罚或单独针对Meta的行业标准。“Meta, while they are a major player in the industry and they have visited enormous mental health harms on kids through their products and their designs, they are not the only player in the industry doing so, and others rightfully must be held accountable,” California Attorney General Rob Bonta said in a call with reporters on Wednesday.“Meta虽然是该行业的主要参与者，并且通过其产品和设计对儿童造成了巨大的心理健康损害，但他们并不是业内唯一这样做的公司，其他公司理应承担相应责任，”加利福尼亚州总检察长罗布·邦塔在周三与记者的电话会议上表示。Snap and YouTube, which is owned by Alphabet, declined to comment. TikTok did not immediately respond to requests for comment.Snap和Alphabet旗下的YouTube拒绝置评。TikTok没有立即回应置评请求。A settlement with dozens of states would indicate that for Meta, “the cost of maintaining infinite scroll, auto play, filters, etc., is just too big a risk for the company,” said Stuart Benjamin, a professor at Duke School of Law and the co-director of Duke’s Center for Innovation Policy. “And they have concluded that they’ve just got to end that risk one way or another.”杜克大学法学院教授兼杜克创新政策中心联合主任斯图尔特·本杰明说，与数十个州达成和解表明，对Meta来说，“维持无限滚动、自动播放、滤镜等功能的代价对公司来说是一个太大的风险”。“而且他们已经得出结论，必须想方设法消除这一风险。”Separately, Meta’s settlement with Texas requires the company to make product changes similar to those in the agreement reached with other states. The $1 billion will help fund things like youth mental health services and grants for Texas schools, the state said in news release.另外，Meta与得克萨斯州达成的和解协议要求该公司对其产品进行类似于与其他州达成的协议中的调整。得州在新闻稿中表示，这10亿美元将帮助资助青少年心理健康服务和面向得州学校的拨款等项目。That agreement brings Meta’s combined settlements with states to over $18 billion.这一协议使Meta与各州达成的和解总金额超过了180亿美元。Emmett Lindner和Kate Conger对本文有报道贡献。Cecilia Kang是《纽约时报》驻华盛顿的科技和监管政策记者。她从事科技报道已有20余年。Eli Tan是时报驻旧金山的科技行业记者。翻译：晋其角点击查看本文英文版。