Meta Platforms Inc. has agreed to pay up to $18 billion over the next decade and implement significant new restrictions on how teenagers use its Facebook and Instagram platforms, resolving a multistate lawsuit accusing the company of designing its social media products to addict young users. The settlement, finalized in a U.S. federal court, involves 47 states, the District of Columbia, and several U.S. territories, with Texas reaching a separate agreement that brings the total potential payout to approximately $18 billion.
The legal action alleged that Meta engineered its platforms to maximize engagement among children, misled the public about associated risks, and unlawfully collected data from users under 13. While Meta denied any wrongdoing as part of the settlement, the company has agreed to new rules aimed at protecting teenage users. These include a default two-hour daily time limit on cumulative use across Meta’s apps for users under 18, with exceptions for messaging and long-form video, and an automatic nightly lockout preventing access between midnight and 6 a.m. local time unless parents grant permission. Additional provisions involve strengthened age verification measures, the establishment of default non-algorithmic feeds for teenagers, disabling certain features such as beauty filters and likes by default, and enhanced parental controls.
An independent auditor, jointly appointed by Meta and the states and financed by the company, will monitor compliance for a period of 10 years. Meta has positioned the settlement as a potential model for the broader social media industry, urging competitors including TikTok and YouTube to adopt similar measures. Meta has agreed to reduce the daily usage limit to one hour and increase its financial contribution if rival platforms enact comparable restrictions and payments.
The settlement is seen by government officials and child safety advocates as a landmark move toward increased accountability for social media’s impact on young users. California Attorney General Rob Bonta described the agreement as transformative, marking a “watershed moment” in protecting children online. Australian authorities have also praised the agreement, with Communications Minister Anika Wells noting it demonstrates that social media companies have the tools to address addictive features but have previously chosen not to use them. Meanwhile, in the Philippines, officials reported that Meta has pledged to enhance protections, including improved age verification and parental controls.
Despite these advances, some experts and former Meta employees involved in the litigation have expressed concerns that the settlement does not go far enough. Arturo Béjar, a former Facebook employee and key witness for the plaintiffs, criticized the focus on time limits, likening it to permitting limited smoking rather than eliminating harm. He argued that the settlement stops short of addressing the underlying algorithms that drive addictive and potentially harmful content and lacks independent oversight mechanisms to ensure meaningful change.
The European Commission has also indicated that it expects Meta to take similar steps in the EU, although it has called for additional reforms, including disabling autoplay and endless scrolling by default, screen-time reminders, and modifications to recommendation systems. Some European regulators continue to pursue enforcement actions against Meta for alleged violations related to child safety and fraudulent advertising.
In the United Kingdom, the Work and Pensions Secretary, Pat McFadden, stated that the government expects Meta's new U.S. protections to be extended to British users to avoid disparity in safety standards. The UK is also preparing to introduce a social media age-ban next year, aiming to further restrict access for younger children. However, experts warn that technical challenges such as age verification and the use of virtual private networks (VPNs) by underage users remain significant obstacles to enforcement.
The settlement marks the largest payment ever made by a tech company in the U.S. and imposes operational changes that could reshape how social media platforms interact with young users. Nevertheless, critics maintain that continued scrutiny and regulatory pressure will be necessary to ensure these measures translate into meaningful and lasting protections for children worldwide.