Meta to Pay $18 Billion and Add Teen Limits in Landmark Settlement
Meta reaches a proposed settlement worth up to $18 billion with a bipartisan coalition of 52 attorneys general, resolving a 2023 lawsuit that accuses the company of deliberately designing Facebook and Instagram to encourage compulsive use among children and teenagers. The lawsuit also alleges that Meta misleads users about platform risks and illegally collects data from children under 13 in violation of laws including COPPA. The deal now awaits court approval.
Under the agreement, Meta introduces significant new restrictions for users under 18, including a default two-hour daily usage limit that only parents can turn off, dropping to one hour if YouTube and TikTok agree to similar terms. Teens are blocked from using the apps between midnight and 6 a.m. by default, and most notifications are muted overnight and during school hours. Meta also hides like counts from teens, blocks cosmetic surgery filters, offers a non-personalized feed option, strengthens parental supervision tools, and deploys age-verification technology to identify minors and remove children under 13.
The financial terms include roughly $12.7 billion in payments to participating states, while another $5.3 billion is released only if YouTube and TikTok adopt comparable changes, such as one-hour daily limits, nighttime restrictions, and age-assurance measures, with matching payments from each company. An independent auditor oversees Meta's compliance, and the company is barred from making false or misleading claims about its safety features. The structure of the deal appears designed to drive industry-wide reform across major social media platforms.