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Meta, owner of Facebook and Instagram, has agreed to pay US$16.7 billion and make changes to its social media apps in the groundbreaking settlement of a Californian legal case centring around social media addiction.
Plaintiffs argued that Meta’s social media apps addict children and teenagers, causing mental health problems such as anxiety and depression.
‘Meta, one of the largest, most powerful companies in the world, carried out a campaign to deceive, to mislead its users, legislatures, teachers and parents,’ said Megan O’Neill, Deputy Attorney General of California in her opening case against Meta.
After a week in court, Meta agreed to a settlement in which it would pay $16.7 billion to the US states who brought the case against it as well as making changes to its apps that include:
- blocking Facebook and Instagram between midnight and 6am
- turning off notifications during school hours
- limiting teens’ use of apps to 2 hours a day
- turning of like counts on posts to teens.
- using ‘age assurance’ technology
- and responding to reports of harmful content within 6 hours.
As Meta’s lawyers pointed out, the measures will only be successful if other social media companies follow suit.
The company’s chief legal officer said: ‘Because teens move fluidly across dozens of apps, we need an industry-wide solution. We therefore call on our industry peers, TikTok and YouTube, to implement this new framework, right away.’
Former Assistant Attorney General, Jonathan Kanter, said that the settlement is significant because it ‘does what Congress thus far has been unable to do, which is to actually regulate social media.’
https://www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2026/08/26/meta-pay-up-18b-settle-lawsuit-alleging-social-media-harm-children/
https://www.cnbc.com/2026/08/18/meta-attorneys-general-opening-arguments-california-bonta-restitution.html
https://www.cnbc.com/2026/08/26/meta-social-media-trial-settlement.html
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