Meta settles in US states lawsuit on teen user addiction
Deutsche Welle · LC · trust 65/100
Meta has agreed to pay what could amount to billions of dollars and to implement platform usage limitations on young users in a lawsuit brought by US states. The challenge revolved around addiction issues and overuse.
https://p.dw.com/p/5JQb7 Activists have followed the case closely in the US, sometimes protesting outside the Oakland court [FILE: August 18, 2026] Image: Manuel Orbegozo/REUTERS Advertisement Meta, the parent company of Facebook and Instagram, has agreed to pay as much as $16.7 billion (roughly €14.3 billion) and to impose new limits on how teenagers use its social media sites as part of a lawsuit in California brought by a number of US states .
The settlement still requires court approval.
The proposal was filed in federal court on Wednesday and seeks to resolve claims from a coalition of 47 US states in total.
As well as the financial damages, it foresees Meta introducing various limitations and changes designed to improve child safety and discourage or prevent overuse and social media activity overnight or during school hours.
"Meta has agreed to make massive transformations that will reduce the risk of harm from its platforms — and will do it within months," California Attorney General Rob Bonta said in a statement as the settlement was announced.
He called the agreement "real change, real transparency, and real enforceable protections for children."
The filing states that the agreement does not amount to any admission of liability or wrongdoing from Meta, which had consistently denied the allegations.
Virginia Attorney General Jay Jones, however, argued that Meta had intentionally put young people's health at risk and that the changes helped to stop this.
"For years, Meta intentionally deceived the public about the addictive and harmful design features that have wreaked havoc on youth mental health," Jones said, arguing that the settlement "will put an end to these dangerous practices and deliver meaningful relief that will protect children from online harm."
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Meta is proposing a series of usage limitations for people under the age of 18, including a "hard cap" on the daily total time spent on their sites.
The cumulative all-day cap is to be set at 2 hours of daily use across Meta's various platforms. Parents will be authorized to lift the restriction. Meta said that in cases where it detects distinct users with multiple accounts, it would apply across them.
Beween midnight and 6 a.m., underage users will also be suspended from the sites.
In what Meta calls "School Mode," notifications will be muted by default between 8 a.m and 3 p.m., with teens no longer receiving push notifications during these hours, "except for direct messages and alerts about their account safety or security."
The minimum age to open accounts on Facebook and Instagram in most US states is 13 (or higher in a few instances) so in theory for younger children there should be no issue. California's attorney general said Meta would be required to institute additional measures designed to identify and remove younger users of its platforms.
California's attorney general also said Meta would also be required to respond to 90% of teen reports on potentially harmful content within 6 hours. It said that Meta would be required to offer under-18s the option of a non-personalized feed as their default.
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Meta noted that Wednesday's agreement was reached with both Republican and Democrat attorneys general and said the plan built "on our longstanding efforts to empower parents and support teens."
The company said it wanted to ensure that teens benefit from "this new industry standard," but said "we cannot do it alone."
"These protections will only be truly effective if we work with our peers — TikTok and YouTube — to put the same measures in place," the company said.
Meta said that the payments would be distributed in annual installments over a 10-year period, also issuing a slightly higher potential maximum total figure of $18 billion.
It said that participating states would receive "approximately 70%" of the allocated payment over the decade. The remaining roughly 30%, it said, would be released only after two specific conditions were met.
Meta said it required that "YouTube and TikTok implement a one-hour Daily Limit, Night Mode, and age assurance figure," as well as the two companies each paying an amount matching its 30% figure.
If industry peers also sign up, Meta said, then it would beef up its own restrictions, "reducing the Daily Limit to one hour per app and expanding Night Mode hours" to 10 p.m. to 7 a.m., rather than the initial midnight to 6 a.m..
"Because teens move fluidly across dozens of apps, we need an industry-wide solution," Meta's Chief Legal Officer C.J. Mahoney said. "We therefore call on our industry peers, TikTok and YouTube, to implement this new framework, right away."
Mahoney said that "as a parent" he was "proud" of Meta's efforts in the past to safeguard young users and of Wednesday's "new groundbreaking agreement."
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