Meta agreed on Wednesday to pay up to $18 billion and add stronger child-safety measures to its Facebook and Instagram platforms as part of a landmark legal settlement that ended a trial over teen social media use and resolved claims filed by nearly every US state. The agreement covers 48 states, along with Washington, D.C., and some US territories.
The case, years in the making, sought to hold the company accountable for the role its platforms played in young people’s mental health, focusing on features designed to capture their attention. California Attorney General Rob Bonta said the deal instituted real change, real transparency and real protections for children and teens across the country. If approved by the court, it will halt a wave of state litigation, although the company still faces separate lawsuits from individuals and school districts.
The settlement will be paid out over 10 years, with California receiving the largest share of at least $1.5 billion and several other states collecting hundreds of millions of dollars each. For the states, the money is earmarked for youth mental-health programs, including after-school and summer activities and digital literacy support. The total figure is a fraction of Meta’s 2025 revenue of $201 billion, and the company’s shares closed up about 1 percent on the day.
Under the proposed terms, Meta agreed to adopt a series of safety features, including two-hour daily time limits that can only be lifted with a parent’s permission, the removal of push notifications during weekday school hours, stronger age-assurance measures and more user-friendly parental controls. The company also agreed to limit social comparison features such as visible like counts, and an independent auditor will assess how the measures are implemented and how effective they are.
Meta said in a blog post that ensuring teens have a safe and productive experience was an absolute imperative, and it urged competitors including TikTok and YouTube to adopt similar measures. About 30 percent of the settlement, roughly $5.3 billion, will be released to states only if those rivals introduce comparable safeguards and contribute matching payments. Advocates welcomed the new protections while cautioning that lasting, industry-wide standards would ultimately require action from Congress.
