Meta Agrees to Pay Up to $16.7 Billion to Settle Teen-Harm Suit by 29 States

Meta Platforms agreed Wednesday to pay a coalition of states up to $16.7 billion and accept new limits on teen use of Facebook and Instagram, ending a landmark trial in the second week, AFP reported. A court filing on Wednesday, in a case tried in federal court in California, resolved claims by 29 states that Meta built its platforms to hook young users, misled the public about the risks and unlawfully collected data from children under 13. Judge Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers approved the settlement late Wednesday afternoon, NBC News reported.

With separate agreements, including one with Texas, the total is about $18 billion, AFP said. NBC News reported that Meta puts the figure at about $18 billion and says the settlement covers 52 attorneys general nationwide. Payments are made in 10 annual installments; California is due between $1.5 billion and $2.1 billion over the decade and New York up to $1.13 billion, AFP reported. Meta does not admit liability or wrongdoing and has consistently denied the allegations.

Under the terms, teen accounts will by default be capped at two hours a day of combined use across Meta’s apps, and messaging and long-form video do not count toward the limit, AFP said. NBC reported that parents must approve any change to that limit. An automatic overnight lockout blocks teens from Facebook and Instagram from midnight to 6 a.m. local time. Likes on teens’ posts will be hidden by default, “extreme makeup filters” will be blocked, teens can choose a non-algorithmic feed and turn off autoplay, and Meta will strengthen age verification and add parental tools, according to NBC. An independent auditor chosen by Meta and the states and paid by Meta will police compliance for 10 years. The changes apply only to teens in signatory states, AFP said.

California Attorney General Rob Bonta, who led the lawsuit, called the deal “real change, real transparency, and real enforceable protections for children,” AFP reported, and said the changes will happen “within months,” NBC reported. Meta’s chief legal officer, C.J. Mahoney, called on TikTok and YouTube to adopt the same framework. If competitors comply, AFP said, the overnight lockout would widen to 10 p.m. to 7 a.m. and the daily allowance would fall to 60 minutes per app. NBC reported that TikTok and Google did not immediately reply to requests for comment.

The states alleged that Meta designed its platforms to be addictive, harmed children and contributed to a national teen mental health crisis, and that it violated federal privacy and consumer protection laws, NBC said. Meta argued that the states cherry-picked features and ignored its safety tools, such as teen accounts that default to private.

Testimony had been damaging. Instagram head Adam Mosseri admitted at the trial on Tuesday that he promoted new teen safety tools without disclosing low adoption rates seen in early testing, AFP reported. Other witnesses said Meta knew the tools were ineffective and “designed to fail.” Meta warned that a loss could have exposed it to more than $1 trillion in penalties. Chief Executive Mark Zuckerberg had also been expected to testify, AFP reported.

Meta’s legal exposure is not over. AFP said it still faces thousands of personal-injury claims and suits by school districts, and NBC noted that a New Mexico jury and judge fined the company more than $900 million in March, finding its platforms created a public nuisance. James Grimmelmann, a Cornell professor, told AFP that settling with the states “is a way to try to limit Meta’s overall exposure.”