Meta has agreed to pay up to $18 billion to settle a massive, landmark lawsuit brought by dozens of US states accusing the company of knowingly designing Facebook and Instagram to addict and harm children.

 

Meta agrees to major changes to Facebook and Instagram as it settles US trial over teen addiction for up to $18bn

Meta has agreed to pay up to $18 billion to settle a massive, landmark lawsuit brought by dozens of US states accusing the company of knowingly designing Facebook and Instagram to addict and harm children. The historic agreement, finalized in a federal court in Oakland, California, cuts short a major trial and marks the first time Meta has been legally compelled to drastically alter core features for everyday teen users in the United States.

🛑 Mandatory App Changes for Teenagers

Alongside the multi-billion dollar financial penalty, Meta is required to roll out sweeping safety and design transformations within months:

• Daily Usage Caps: Platforms will default to a two-hour daily time limit for users under 18, which can only be disabled with explicit parental permission.
• Nighttime Restrictions: The apps will feature blocks on overnight access and nighttime use to protect teen sleep schedules.
• School Hour Pauses: Meta will completely eliminate push notifications during weekday school hours to minimize classroom distractions.
• Stricter Age Verification: The company must deploy robust age-assurance measures to prevent children under 13 from accessing the platforms.
• Content & Social Feed Overhauls: Enhanced content controls will block material related to self-harm, eating disorders, and bullying, while limits will be placed on "social comparison" features like public like counts.

⚖️ The Broader Legal Impact

The settlement resolves a multi-state coalition lawsuit originally filed in 2023. Legal experts are already calling this social media’s "tobacco moment," drawing direct parallels to the sweeping 1990s lawsuits that held tobacco giants accountable for marketing products they knew were harmful.

While Meta continues to deny legal wrongdoing in the settlement text, its executives are publicly shifting strategies. Meta has explicitly urged competitors like TikTok and Google's YouTube to adopt these identical teen safety standards to establish a new, permanent baseline for the entire tech industry