Meta agrees to pay US states $16.7B in landmark teen social media addiction case

Meta agrees to pay a coalition of US states as much as $16.7 billion and to impose sweeping new limits on how teenagers use Facebook and Instagram, according to a court filing that ends a landmark trial in California.

The proposed settlement, filed in federal court, would resolve claims by 29 states that Meta deliberately engineered its platforms to hook young users, misled the public about the risks and unlawfully collected data from children under 13.

The changes to how young people use its apps go further than anything Meta has accepted before, and follow years of criticism from parents and experts over the effects of the world’s biggest social media platforms on children.

Anger over the impact of Instagram and Facebook — as well as rival apps like Snapchat and TikTok — has driven the spread of age limits and school phone bans around the world.

Despite the settlement, in the United States, Meta still faces thousands of personal injury claims and litigation from school districts, none of which the agreement covers.

The case by the 29 states was among the most far-reaching, with Meta warning that a courtroom loss could have exposed it to more than $1 trillion in penalties.