Meta Reaches $18 Billion Settlement Over Teen Social Media Harm

Meta has agreed to an $18 billion settlement with 48 state attorneys general over claims that Facebook and Instagram harmed teenagers, pairing the financial accord with extensive new restrictions for users under 18.

The agreement would end a federal trial in Oakland, California, that had entered its second week and exposed the company to demands for roughly $200 billion in damages.

The settlement still requires approval from a federal judge.

New Limits for Teen Users

As part of the agreement, Meta will introduce a default two-hour daily limit on Facebook and Instagram for users under 18.

The company will also impose a “night mode” blocking access by default between midnight and 6 a.m., while a separate “school mode” will disable push notifications from 8 a.m. to 3 p.m.

Parents will have to approve changes to those settings.

Other measures include stronger age-verification tools and tighter access to features such as beauty filters and visible like counts for teenage users.

An independent auditor will oversee Meta’s compliance, issue recommendations and report findings to participating states.

California Attorney General Rob Bonta said Meta had agreed to “make massive transformations that will reduce the risk of harm from its platforms, and will do it within months.”

$18 Billion Payout Comes With Conditions

Meta will initially be required to pay 70 percent of the $18 billion settlement.

The remaining 30 percent, about $5.3 billion, is conditional on TikTok and Alphabet-owned YouTube agreeing to their own terms with the states.

Under that arrangement, TikTok and YouTube would introduce default one-hour daily limits for underage users and collectively pay roughly $5.3 billion.

Meta would owe the final portion of its settlement only if those companies accept the proposed conditions.

Participating states will receive payments annually over 10 years, allocated by population.

The agreement covers 48 states as well as the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, American Samoa and the Northern Mariana Islands. New Mexico and Florida are not currently included.

Federal Trial Halted

The settlement stops a case brought by the attorneys general of California, Kentucky, New Jersey and Colorado.

They alleged that Meta violated state consumer-protection laws and the federal Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act by deliberately designing addictive platforms and targeting younger users.

Instagram chief Adam Mosseri had begun giving evidence when the settlement emerged. Meta chief executive Mark Zuckerberg had also been expected to testify.

Meta denied the allegations and said the agreement did not amount to an admission of wrongdoing.

“This Agreement is entered into for settlement purposes only and does not constitute an admission by Meta of any liability, wrongdoing, or violation of any local, state, federal, or international law,” the company said in the filing.

Meta legal chief C.J. Mahoney said the accord represented a new level of agreement between regulators and the company.

“What we have now for the first time is alignment between one of the major social-media platforms and regulators from all over the country about how to deal with this issue,” he said.

Legal Pressure Remains

The settlement follows a separate child-safety case in New Mexico, where Meta was ordered to pay $375 million in civil penalties and establish a $567 million fund to address harm to young users.

Meta and YouTube were also jointly ordered to pay $6 million following a separate Los Angeles trial brought by a 20-year-old woman.

The company continues to face thousands of lawsuits from school districts and individual plaintiffs alleging that the design of Facebook and Instagram contributed to social-media harms.

Those cases seek to hold Meta responsible through product-liability claims focused on how its platforms are designed rather than solely on user-generated content.