Meta agrees to pay $17bn to settle landmark US child safety lawsuit

The settlement comes just a week after Meta was dragged to trial by four US states.

Meta has agreed to pay up to $17bn in a landmark settlement to dozens of US states and territories over a lawsuit that alleged that the social media giant knowingly caused harm to children.

Alongside the proposed settlement, the social media giant has also agreed to make major changes to its products, and limit how much time minors can spend on its platforms. It also agreed to ban features including beauty filters and like counts for users under the age of 18.

The $17bn penalty will be paid to the states over the course of 10 years, the California Department of Justice said. California alone will receive $1.5bn to $2.1bn if this settlement is approved by the court.

“Today, we have secured a settlement with Meta that will make social media less dangerous for our kids and make a world of a difference for children and their families,” said California attorney general Rob Bonta.

“Meta has agreed to make massive transformations that will reduce the risk of harm from its platforms – and will do it within months.

“We are talking about time limits, stopping notifications during school, a block on the app during critical overnight hours, bans on plastic surgery filters, and so much more.

“I am proud to deliver this settlement that addresses the concerns at the core of our lawsuit and institutes real change, real transparency and real enforceable protections for children on Facebook and Instagram – right now, no more waiting,” Bonta added.

The settlement comes just a week after Meta was dragged to trial by California, Colorado, Kentucky and New Jersey.

The trial stems from a 2023 lawsuit filed by more than 30 states and territories which claimed that Meta specifically targets users under 13 years old, monetises their attention through data harvesting and targeted advertising, concocts ways to prolong their time on its apps and misrepresents its platforms as being safe.

The multibillion-dollar agreed settlement is a far cry from the $200bn that the four aforementioned states were seeking in damages from Meta, with penalties ranging from a few hundred dollars to $50,000 per violation, depending on the jurisdiction.

The social media giant still faces several other lawsuits from school districts and individuals in the US, with some scheduled for the coming months, as child safety takes political priority in an online-first world.

Earlier this year, a New Mexico court fined Meta nearly $1bn in damages after finding that the company endangered children by misleading users about the safety of its platforms. The damages included a $375m civil penalty and $567m to remedy social media harms to the state’s child users.

That initial ruling came just a day before the company’s platforms were found to be addictive for children in a separate lawsuit that also targeted YouTube.

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