Meta reaches $16.68 billion settlement over social media harms to children
The deal would require new teen safeguards on Instagram and Facebook, including daily time limits, nighttime blocks and stronger parental controls, officials said.
- On Wednesday, August 26, 2026, Meta Platforms agreed to pay $17 billion to settle a landmark multi-state lawsuit alleging Facebook and Instagram were designed to addict children and illegally harvest their data.
- The agreement terminates a high-stakes federal trial in Oakland, California, overseen by U.S. District Judge Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers, which began last week after a bipartisan coalition of 47 state attorneys general sued the tech giant.
- Meta must now implement strict safety measures, including a two-hour daily time limit for users under 18, mandatory overnight blocks from midnight to 6 a.m., and stronger age-verification tools to prevent minors from accessing harmful content.
- To incentivize competitors like TikTok and YouTube, Meta Chief Legal Officer CJ Mahoney stated the company will hold back $5.3 billion of the settlement funds until those platforms match these safety standards.
- Despite this resolution, Meta remains a defendant in thousands of active lawsuits filed by public school districts and individual families, highlighting the ongoing legal battles regarding youth mental health and social media's broader impact.
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Meta reaches US$17 billion settlement in landmark trial over teen social media addiction
OAKLAND, Calif. (AP) – Meta has agreed to pay US$17 billion and add stronger child-safety measures to its Facebook and Instagram platforms to end a landmark trial over teen social media addiction and settle claims filed by 47 states, state attorneys general announced on Wednesday. The settlement resolves a pivotal legal case years in the making that sought to hold the tech giant accountable for the role its platforms played in undermining childr…
Tech company Meta has agreed to a historic $17 billion settlement after US states accused the platforms of harming children's health. The company will now also limit the use of its apps by young people in the US.
Meta agrees to pay $18 billion to settle social media addiction lawsuit
Meta has agreed to pay $18 billion to settle a landmark social media addiction lawsuit brought by several states, including Arizona and California. The settlement comes a day after testimony by Instagram head Adam Mosseri. The post Meta agrees to pay $18 billion to settle social media addiction lawsuit appeared first on KYMA.
Accused of having promoted the addiction of minors to its social networks, the mother house of Facebook and Instagram entered into a historic amicable agreement on Wednesday, 26 August, to end the trial that began a week earlier.
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