Meta has agreed to pay up to US$17 billion over 10 years to settle claims brought by a bipartisan coalition of state attorneys general. The states argued that the company deliberately designed Facebook and Instagram to hook children into using its apps, misled the public about the harm and improperly collected data from children under
Good morning. Meta just settled a landmark child-safety case with a fine of up to $18 billion paid over the next decade, with annual payments equal to less than 1% of its 2025 revenue. Financially, that’s a victory for the parent of Facebook and Instagram, which said the 29-state lawsuit could have wiped out its
As part of the settlement, the social media giant has agreed to make a number of changes to the way Instagram and Facebook operate for its youngest users. Some experts say it is long overdue. The new safety barriers include a two-hour time limit across both platforms, which will be a default setting for known
Meta is not actually committing to pay the $17.1 billion figure attached to this week’s child safety settlement, at least not on its own. California Attorney General Rob Bonta, whose office led the case, put the settlement at “up to $17 billion,” saying Meta “must make massive transformations that will reduce the risk of harm
Meta Platforms agreed Wednesday to pay up to $17.1 billion to settle a landmark lawsuit brought by 29 states alleging the company deliberately engineered Facebook and Instagram to be addictive to children, marking the largest single settlement in the company’s history and the biggest tech-industry payout ever recorded in a single case. Meta’s press release
Meta will pay up to $17.1 billion over 10 years — and implement broad child-safety reforms on Instagram and Facebook — under a nationwide settlement with 26 state attorneys general, including California’s Rob Bonta. The agreement, subject to court approval, resolves claims by the state AGs that Meta designed Instagram with addictive features, knowingly exposed
