Meta agrees to pay up to $18 billion over claims its platforms harm children

Meta to pay up to $18bn to settle claims its platforms harm children

The blue Meta logo, which looks like an infinity sign, outside Meta's HQ

'Finally, something was done' - Parent reacts to social media trial settlement

Social media giant Meta has agreed to a $18bn (£13.3bn) settlement with US states and territories to resolve claims that Facebook and Instagram harmed children.

A California judge approved the settlement, which Meta must pay to 48 states, plus the District of Columbia and three US territories, marking the company's largest payment over child safety litigation to date.

Meta will also implement a host of changes aimed at better protecting kids online, which the states had demanded, including default daily time limits and night-time blocks.

"This is a major moment to clean up an industry that has been hurting our kids," California Attorney General Rob Bonta said.

Meta has denied any wrongdoing as part of the settlement and said on Wednesday that the payment it agreed to "will be distributed in annual instalments over a 10-year period".

Judge Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers approved the settlement, 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".

While the settlement includes almost the entire US, the initial lawsuit was filed in 2023 by 29 states accusing the company of numerous violations of federal and state child privacy laws.

One of the states that was not part of the settlement was New Mexico.

Last month, a federal judge there handed down a historic ruling against Meta, finding it to be a "public nuisance" on par with air pollution and ordering it to pay combined fines of almost $1bn.

As a jury trial kicked off last week in an Oakland, California, federal court, state lawyers argued the tech company knew that millions of 11- and 12-year-old users were on Instagram and Facebook over the years, yet "did little to keep them off" the platforms.

Although the trial had only gone on for five days, state lawyers relied heavily on information found in millions of internal Meta documents provided in the case. They included internal research, employee emails, and chat logs that went all the way up to chief executive Mark Zuckerberg.

One piece of internal research on Instagram stated: "Teens have an addict's narrative about use." Still, the states argued, Meta targeted young users.

"The trial did not go well for Meta," Bonta said on Wednesday.

Meta maintained throughout the brief trial that it had worked extensively over the years to make its platforms safer for its youngest users, pouring resources into testing and research, and building new features.

"We're always working on teen safety," head of Instagram Adam Mosseri said during an hour of court testimony on Tuesday.