Meta Platforms has agreed to pay up to $16.68 billion to settle claims brought by 29 US states over allegations that Facebook and Instagram harmed children and teenagers.
The settlement, reached during a federal trial in California, requires Meta to introduce new safeguards for teenage users nationwide. These include daily usage limits, nighttime restrictions, stronger parental controls, and measures to prevent children from accessing age-restricted content.
The states alleged that Meta designed Facebook and Instagram in ways that encouraged prolonged use among young people and contributed to concerns about their mental and physical well-being.
The case also included allegations that Meta collected personal information from children without proper parental notification or consent, in violation of the US Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act. The states further claimed that the company used some of the data to train machine-learning and generative artificial intelligence systems.
The lawsuits were consolidated before US District Judge Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers in Oakland, combining claims from individuals, school districts and state governments amid growing scrutiny of social media’s impact on young users.
Meta denied wrongdoing in agreeing to the settlement and has maintained that it has worked to protect children on its platforms. The company has also disputed claims that its services were deliberately designed to cause addiction.
The settlement brings the federal trial to an end and marks one of the largest agreements involving allegations over social media’s impact on children in the United States.
The case is part of a broader legal challenge facing major technology companies, with Meta and other social media platforms continuing to face lawsuits over alleged harms affecting children and teenagers.
