Meta, the parent company of Facebook and Instagram, has agreed to pay approximately $18 billion to settle claims brought by a bipartisan coalition of 52 US state attorneys general who alleged the company deliberately engineered its platforms to harm young users. The settlement is the largest Meta has ever made over child safety litigation.
Judge Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers approved the agreement, writing that it "reflects a fair, reasonable, comprehensive, and good faith approach not only to provide monetary relief, but importantly, to change conduct in a way that attempts to meaningfully address the negative impacts of the social media platforms at issue."
The core claims, brought by 29 of the participating states, were that Meta deliberately engineered its platforms to hook young users, misled the public about the risks, and unlawfully collected data from children under 13. Texas negotiated separately, and its agreement pushed the total figure to around $18 billion. The only states not included are New Mexico and Florida.
Meta did not admit wrongdoing. In a statement, the company said it had "partnered with state attorneys general to set a new industry standard." The $18 billion will be paid in 10 annual instalments.
The settlement goes well beyond money. Meta must introduce a series of product changes that will reshape the experience of teenage users on its platforms, though only in the signatory states. The changes do not apply internationally.
An automatic overnight lock will prevent teenagers from accessing Facebook and Instagram between midnight and 6:00 am local time. Separately, a "night mode" feature, which mutes notifications during those same hours, will now be switched on by default. A "school mode" will mute notifications between 08:00 and 15:00 on school days.
Teen accounts will also be subject to a default cap of two hours of cumulative daily use across Meta's apps, though time spent messaging or watching long-form video will not count toward that limit. If other major platforms, including TikTok, Snap and YouTube, agree to implement similar restrictions for young users, that daily cap would drop to one hour.
Other changes include the removal of like and reaction counts for young users, restricted access to extreme make-up filters, the ability to turn off autoplay for videos, and an optional non-personalised feed that does not use an algorithm to target teenagers with content designed to keep them scrolling.
The specific timeline for rolling out each product change has not been disclosed. It is also unclear what penalties Meta would face if it fails to deliver the agreed changes.
California Attorney General Rob Bonta described the outcome as "a major moment to clean up an industry that has been hurting our kids." Meta's chief legal officer, CJ Mahoney, said the framework "will empower parents to easily manage how their children access our platforms."
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