Meta agrees to $18 billion settlement in US child safety lawsuit

Meta has agreed to an $18 billion settlement in a major US federal lawsuit accusing the company of endangering children. Under the terms, the social media giant will introduce new safety features on platforms like Instagram and Facebook.

The deal was reached on August 26 between Meta and 48 US states, after a federal court in California heard evidence suggesting Meta knew its products harmed minors' mental health. Meta denied wrongdoing but agreed to settle.

What was the lawsuit about?

29 US states sued Meta, alleging the company designed its platforms in ways that "encourage addictive behavior, fail to verify users' ages, encourage teenagers to bypass parental controls, and inadequately protect against harmful content," according to court filings in California.

The first four states to file federal suits against Meta in 2023—California, Kentucky, Colorado, and New Jersey—began trial in California federal court last week.

The attorneys general who brought the suit also asked the court to order changes to Meta's platforms to protect young users. They demanded Meta establish parental verification processes for teen users; change algorithms that "manipulate dopamine"; remove photo filters for personal images; ban multiple accounts; and end "disappearing" messages and posts.

The lawsuit also accused Meta of violating the Children's Online Privacy Protection Act by collecting, retaining, and using personal data of children under 13 without parental consent.

Previously, in February this year, Meta lost a multimillion-dollar case filed by a young woman named KGM in Los Angeles. In March, a US jury ordered Meta to pay $375 million for endangering children in a case brought by the state of New Mexico. Last month, a New Mexico judge also ordered Meta to pay an additional $567 million in the second phase of the trial.

What did Meta agree to do?

Under the settlement, Meta agreed to pay up to $16.7 billion to 47 states as well as Washington DC, Puerto Rico, American Samoa, and the Northern Mariana Islands. California could receive $2.2 billion, while New York could receive $1.1 billion. Texas reached a separate deal worth over $1 billion. Some states will put money into a common fund, while others will earmark part for child mental health services.

The settlement does not require Meta to stop personalized recommendations or targeted advertising. It also does not address some content that researchers consider problematic, including posts that make Instagram users uncomfortable about their body image.

Meta said in a blog post: "Ensuring teens have safe and positive experiences on our platforms is an absolute priority for Meta. We want to do right by parents and teens."

What changes on Instagram and Facebook?

Children under 18 using Meta platforms will be limited to two hours per day, with a nighttime curfew from midnight to 6 a.m. Meta will limit "social comparison" features by hiding likes and reactions on children's accounts, and ban "beauty filters" that alter users' appearance, by default. These settings can only be overridden with parental consent.

The company also agreed to turn off most push notifications from platforms during school hours—from 8 a.m. to 3 p.m.—for teen users.

Parents and guardians will receive information about app usage time, usernames of contact accounts, and accounts that message children. Supervising parents will receive daily notifications from Meta each time a teen account messages an adult account for the first time, with a link to the adult's account. Parent accounts will also be notified whenever a teen account searches for keywords related to suicide, self-harm, or eating disorders.

Meta also agreed to improve age verification technology for children, using its own tools as well as third-party ones, with regular independent audits of monitoring effectiveness. This measure is notable because Australia banned under-16s from using social media platforms in December last year. However, Australia's internet watchdog eSafety found that more than 8 in 10 young teens continued to use them, largely due to ineffective age verification processes.

Meta has only agreed to pay 70% of the settlement amount, about $12.7 billion, over the next 10 years. The company will only pay the remaining about $5 billion if competitors—including Snapchat, TikTok, and Alphabet's YouTube—adopt similar measures and agree to pay the same level. Meta also said it would reduce the time limit to one hour per day if other platforms do the same.

The changes will be rolled out in phases. After court approval, non-personalized feeds will be introduced within 4 months; broader compliance measures within 6 months; and larger age verification requirements within a year.

How impactful are these changes?

Critics and child safety advocates acknowledged that the deal has forced Meta, the world's largest social media company owning Facebook, Instagram, WhatsApp, and Messenger with over 2-3 billion monthly active users, to make landmark changes.

However, critics argue that the key point of the deal is limiting teens to a maximum of two hours per day, rather than fundamentally changing addictive algorithms.

Sacha Haworth, executive director of The Tech Oversight Project, an advocacy group for youth online safety, called it a "historic agreement that will have lasting impact, but we cannot truly protect all children and teens until these protections are applied across all platforms and made permanent—only Congress can do that."

Ella Bradshaw, policy officer for online child safety at NSPCC, a UK children's charity, welcomed the moves to curb "addictive" features like personalized algorithms and likes. "These are things that make children engaged and feel out of control of their time, so action here is necessary and welcome. However, there are still significant gaps," she told Al Jazeera.

Bradshaw described the deal as "piecemeal action" in addressing risky features and addictive design. She pointed out that disappearing messages, infinite scroll, gifting capabilities, and live streaming remain unaddressed. She also called for stronger protections for younger children and measures that don't "suddenly disappear when teens turn 18," while emphasizing that not all children have families to supervise their online activities.

What are other countries doing about Meta?

While actions in the US are primarily litigation, elsewhere, regulators are leading.

In the European Union, regulators are pursuing multiple cases and regulations against Meta, including allegations of "addictive" design of Facebook and Instagram under the Digital Services Act (DSA). On August 27, a European Commission spokesperson said they were awaiting Meta's presentation of changes to limit addictive design. "We have been very clear... Meta knows what we expect from them... Now is the time for the company to make these commitments in the EU to protect children here," said Thomas Regnier.

In June, the UK government announced a comprehensive ban on social media for under-16s effective next year, following a global trend pioneered by Australia. The UK is also considering overnight curfews and ways to prevent infinite scroll for under-18s.

In Brazil, consumer protection group Collective Defence Institute filed a lawsuit seeking 3 billion reais ($525 million) in damages against Brazilian branches of Meta, TikTok, and Kwai in October 2024, alleging the companies failed to implement protections against addiction and use by children. Since March, platforms must link accounts of children under 16 to legal guardians under Brazil's Digital Charter for Children and Teens.

South Korea's media regulator also reacted on August 27 to Meta's deal, calling for better protection for young users globally rather than only in specific markets.