Meta to pay up to 18 billion in US child addiction dispute
Teen users of Facebook and Instagram face decade-long default limits on daily use and overnight access unless parents give consent.
kolmapäev, 26. august 2026 19:22
Meta Platforms agreed on Wednesday to change Facebook and Instagram and pay up to US$18 billion to settle claims by most U.S. states over children's social media addiction, Channel News Asia reported.
The settlements ended a federal trial that had been one of the highest-profile tests of allegations that social media companies harm children. The states alleged that Meta designed the platforms to addict children and misled consumers about their safety. "The focus of this case was to protect our kids," Colorado Attorney General Phil Weiser said.
For the next decade, Meta agreed to restrict teenagers' use of Facebook and Instagram to two hours a day and block all usage from midnight to 6 a.m., absent parental consent. The limits could be tightened if other social media companies adopt similar terms. Meta will also enhance measures to prevent children from accessing age-restricted content.
Meta, based in Menlo Park, California, denied wrongdoing in agreeing to settle. The settlement does not require the company to abandon personalized recommendations or targeted advertising, and it will not undergo a fundamental overhaul. "Ensuring teens have a safe and productive experience on our platforms is an absolute imperative for Meta," the company said in a blog post.
The settlements include more than US$17.6 billion of payments to 48 U.S. states, Washington, D.C., Puerto Rico, American Samoa and the Northern Mariana Islands. Meta will also pay US$459 million to resolve states' privacy claims related to the Cambridge Analytica scandal, where the British consulting firm collected personal data of millions of Facebook users. California would receive US$2.2 billion, while New York and Texas would each receive more than US$1 billion.
Some of the payout is contingent on whether Alphabet's YouTube and ByteDance's TikTok impose similar protections for children. Neither company was immediately available for comment. "This is a big deal," said James Speta, a Northwestern University law professor who specializes in telecommunications and internet policy.
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