Meta has agreed to pay approximately $18 billion to settle a multistate lawsuit accusing the social media giant of designing addictive platforms that harmed the mental health of children and teenagers, ending a legal battle that began nearly three years ago.
The settlement, announced Wednesday, resolves claims brought by a coalition of 29 states alleging that Meta, which owns Instagram and Facebook, knowingly built features into its platforms to hook young users while collecting their data without parental consent, in violation of the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA).
Under the terms, Meta will pay 70 percent of the settlement, roughly $12.7 billion, in annual instalments over the next 10 years to fund state-run youth online safety initiatives. The remaining 30 percent, about $5.3 billion, is conditional: Meta says it will pay that portion only if rival platforms YouTube and TikTok agree to make matching payments and adopt the same safety measures the company is committing to.
Beyond the payment, Meta has agreed to a series of platform changes. These include daily time limits for teenage users, a block on notifications to users under 18 overnight and during school hours except for direct messages and account-security alerts, and expanded measures to verify users’ ages in order to keep children under 13 off its platforms. Meta said it would extend its nighttime blackout window and reduce daily time limits further if YouTube and TikTok match its commitments. An independent auditor will be brought in to monitor compliance with these practices.
Meta also agreed to strengthen its reporting tools for harmful content, pledging to respond to 90 percent of teen safety reports within six hours. The company will additionally be subject to a court injunction barring it from making false or misleading statements about its safety features going forward.
Meta did not admit wrongdoing as part of the deal and, according to a court filing, continues to deny the allegations and any liability. The settlement still requires approval from a judge before it takes effect.
The agreement comes roughly a week into a trial in California, where four states had been seeking as much as $1.4 trillion in damages, and a day after Instagram head Adam Mosseri testified in the case. Meta chief executive Mark Zuckerberg had also been expected to testify before the settlement was reached.
The lawsuit followed a two-year investigation led by attorneys general including those of California, Colorado, Kentucky and New Jersey. According to North Carolina’s attorney general, the deal marks the largest settlement involving a major technology company to date.
The settlement comes after two earlier rulings against Meta this year: a nearly $1 billion damages order in a case brought by New Mexico’s attorney general, and a $6 million joint judgment against Meta and YouTube in a separate case brought by a teenager.
Meta still faces hundreds of additional lawsuits over similar claims.
