Meta Reaches Multibillion-Dollar Settlement Over Alleged Harm to Children as Landmark Trial Enters Second Week

 OAKLAND, Calif. — Meta Platforms has agreed to pay up to $18 billion and implement sweeping new restrictions on how teenagers use Facebook and Instagram as part of a landmark settlement with nearly all U.S. states over allegations that the company’s platforms were deliberately designed to keep children and teenagers engaged in ways that contributed to addiction and mental-health problems.

The agreement, announced Wednesday during the second week of a major federal trial in Oakland, brings an abrupt end to what had been expected to become a six-week courtroom battle involving testimony about Meta’s internal practices, its treatment of young users and the potential long-term effects of its social-media products.

The settlement is one of the largest legal agreements involving a technology company and is being compared by some officials and legal observers to major corporate settlements from previous eras, including the landmark cases involving the tobacco industry. The deal still requires judicial approval before its terms become effective.

What Meta agreed to pay

Under the agreement, Meta will guarantee approximately $12.7 billion over 10 years. Another roughly $5 billion could be added if other major social-media companies agree to adopt comparable restrictions and financial commitments.

That brings the potential value of the settlement to approximately $18 billion, although some reports have described the guaranteed and contingent portions differently, resulting in figures of about $16.7 billion or $17 billion depending on which provisions are included.

The money will help finance youth online-safety initiatives and related programs. A portion will support an independent organization that will have access to company data and will study patterns involving young people's use of social-media platforms.

The settlement also resolves claims brought by dozens of states and is expected to prevent additional related state trials from moving forward.

The allegations against Meta

The states accused Meta of intentionally designing Facebook and Instagram with features intended to maximize engagement among children and teenagers, despite concerns about the potential effects on young people's mental health.

Prosecutors argued that the company knew or should have known that certain features could contribute to compulsive use and other problems while failing to adequately protect young users.

The litigation also included allegations that Meta misled the public about the safety of its platforms and improperly collected personal information from children under 13 without the required parental consent, potentially violating federal children's privacy protections.

Meta has consistently denied wrongdoing and has argued that it has invested heavily in tools designed to protect young people online. The company has also maintained that parents play an important role in supervising their children's social-media use.

Major changes coming to Facebook and Instagram

As part of the agreement, Meta will introduce significant restrictions for teenage users.

Among the most notable changes:

• Two-hour daily limit: Teenagers will generally be limited to two hours of Facebook and Instagram use per day unless a verified parent disables the restriction.
• Overnight restrictions: Teen accounts will be blocked from using the platforms between midnight and 6 a.m.
• School-hour protections: Notifications will be turned off by default during school hours.
• Reduced social pressure: Like counts on posts made by teenagers will be hidden by default.
• Age verification: Meta will strengthen its technology for determining whether users are old enough to access its platforms.
• Under-13 protections: Meta will continue efforts to identify and remove children under 13, who are generally prohibited from using the platforms.
• Parental controls: Parents will receive stronger tools to control how their children use Facebook and Instagram.
• Harmful-content reporting: Meta will strengthen systems for reporting harmful material and responding to reports involving teenagers.

The agreement also includes restrictions on certain features considered potentially harmful to young users, including some cosmetic or appearance-related filters.

Meta wants other technology companies to follow

One of the most significant aspects of the agreement is that Meta is attempting to turn the settlement into a broader industry standard.

Meta has called on companies including TikTok and YouTube to adopt similar restrictions, arguing that limiting its own platforms while competitors maintain fewer restrictions could simply push teenagers toward other services.

If competing platforms agree to comparable measures, Meta could be required to pay an additional approximately $5 billion under the settlement framework.

The company has argued that youth online safety cannot be effectively addressed if restrictions are imposed on only one social-media platform.

The trial that was suddenly halted

The settlement came as the Oakland trial was entering its second week.

The case involved California, Colorado, Kentucky and New Jersey, with additional states participating in related claims. The litigation was part of a much larger wave of lawsuits brought by states, school districts, parents and young people against Meta and other technology companies over alleged social-media-related harms.

The trial was expected to continue for several more weeks and could have included testimony from Meta executives and other prominent witnesses.

One of the important witnesses was former Meta employee Arturo Béjar, who had previously raised concerns about problems affecting teenagers on Instagram. Béjar criticized the settlement after it was announced, arguing that restrictions on how long teenagers can use the platforms do not necessarily address the underlying design and algorithmic issues that critics say can contribute to harmful experiences.

States had sought enormous damages

The financial stakes in the case were enormous.

The four states involved in the trial had sought damages that could potentially have reached hundreds of billions of dollars, with some estimates putting the theoretical exposure as high as approximately $1.4 trillion.

The eventual settlement is dramatically lower than that potential exposure, but it remains one of the largest settlements ever involving a technology company.

California Attorney General Rob Bonta described the settlement as a major breakthrough, saying the agreement achieves significant changes without forcing states to spend years pursuing appeals and additional litigation.

Not every state accepted the deal

The settlement does not end every legal battle facing Meta.

Florida rejected the agreement and intends to continue pursuing its own case against the company.

New Mexico also pursued a separate lawsuit and recently secured a major judgment against Meta. A New Mexico court ordered the company to pay $567 million for youth mental-health-related remedies, in addition to a previously imposed $375 million civil penalty, bringing the state's total financial judgment against Meta to approximately $942 million.

Meta also continues to face lawsuits from individual users, families and school districts alleging that its platforms contributed to mental-health problems among young people.

A broader reckoning for social media

The Meta settlement comes as technology companies face increasing legal and political pressure over the impact of social media on children.

Meta, TikTok, YouTube and Snap have all faced lawsuits alleging that their platforms can contribute to addiction, cyberbullying, anxiety, depression and other problems affecting young people.

Earlier court decisions have begun to weaken the industry's legal defenses. In one recent case in Los Angeles, a jury found Meta and YouTube liable in a case involving social-media addiction and awarded $6 million to the plaintiff.

The legal pressure has also been intensified by the New Mexico ruling against Meta, which imposed both financial penalties and extensive court-supervised reforms.

Meta still denies wrongdoing

Despite agreeing to the multibillion-dollar settlement, Meta has not admitted wrongdoing.

The company says it has already taken steps to protect teenagers and has emphasized parental controls and other safety measures. Meta's legal team has also argued that social-media safety requires participation across the entire industry rather than restrictions imposed on a single company.

The settlement therefore represents a major legal compromise rather than a judicial finding that Meta committed all of the allegations made against it.

What happens next

The settlement must still receive court approval before the new requirements become fully enforceable.

If approved, the changes will fundamentally alter how teenagers interact with Facebook and Instagram in the United States, including limits on daily use, nighttime access, notifications and certain engagement features.

The agreement could also have consequences far beyond Meta. If TikTok, YouTube and other major platforms adopt similar restrictions, the settlement could establish a new nationwide standard for how technology companies manage children's access to social media.

For Meta, the deal ends one of its most consequential legal battles over youth safety while leaving other lawsuits and regulatory challenges unresolved.

For parents, lawmakers and child-safety advocates, however, the larger question remains whether restrictions on screen time and platform features will be enough to address the broader concerns surrounding social media and children's mental health.

The settlement marks a major turning point in the growing legal battle over social media and young users — and could ultimately force the entire technology industry to rethink how its platforms are designed for children and teenagers.