Meta will pay $18 billion over a decade to 48 US states and territories to resolve a landmark child safety lawsuit alleging Facebook and Instagram harmed minors. The settlement, approved by Judge Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers, requires sweeping platform changes, including strict time limits, night-time usage blocks, disabled school-hour notifications, and tools to curb addictive features for teenage users.
TECH GIANT META will be paying $18 billion in settlements to US authorities and territories as part of an agreement to dismiss a federal lawsuit that alleged that its platforms — notably Facebook and Instagram — harmed children. The settlement amount will be paid over the next decade, and additionally Meta has agreed to make changes to its platforms to mitigate social media addiction amongst children. On Wednesday, August 26, 2026, California Judge Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers ended a federal lawsuit against Meta, contingent on the tech giant paying 48 US states the stipulated settlement amount — including the District of Columbia and three US territories.
This $18 billion settlement marks the company's largest payment over child safety litigation to date. Additionally, the US states have demanded that the tech giant implement a slew of measures in its platforms — such as default daily time limits and night-time blocks — aimed towards protecting children online.
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“This is a major moment to clean up an industry that has been hurting our kids,” California Attorney General Rob Bonta stated to reporters outside the courtroom. “The focus of this case was to protect our kids. The relief we are getting in this settlement is very meaningful and well beyond what any court has ordered or is likely to order,” he continued.
Denying any wrongdoing as part of the settlement, Meta stated that the settlement amount will be distributed to the concerned stakeholders in annual installments over a 10-year period. Judge Rogers, while dismissing the federal lawsuit against Meta and approving the settlement, stated that “it [the settlement] reflects a fair, reasonable, comprehensive, and good faith approach not only to provide monetary relief, but importantly, to change conduct in a way that attempts to meaningfully address the negative impacts of the social media platforms at issue.”
The $18 billion settlement plan includes Meta making a guaranteed payment of $12.7 billion, i.e. 70% of the stipulated amount. The remaining 30% of the payment, $5.3 Billion, will be made after rival social media platforms — namely Tiktok, SnapChat, and YouTube — adopt similar measures aimed towards protecting children and make matching payments.
The dismissal of the federal lawsuit is contingent upon two conditions: the company will pay the settlement amount to the states within the given time frame, and will make a host of changes to its platforms to shield children from online harm.
Over the next decade, Meta will be restricting teenagers’ daily use of Facebook and Instagram, limiting it to two hours a day, and blocking all usage from midnight to 6 AM subject to parental consent. It will also disable push notifications to teenage users during school hours of 8 AM to 3 PM, and modify measures to prevent children from accessing age-restricted content.
Other changes include hiding likes counts on teens' profiles and of those that they interact with; the ability to choose a feed that is not based upon algorithm’s recommendations; the ability to turn off autoplay for videos and content; and inclusion of pop-up notifications that indicate when a teen has hit 15, 60, and 90 minutes of continual use.
The initial lawsuit was filed by 29 US states back in 2023, that accused the tech giant of skirting state child privacy laws and violating federal rules and regulations. A jury trial commenced last week on August 18, 2026, in a federal court in Oakland, California, where State prosecutors argued that Meta was well-aware that millions of children as young as 11-12 years of age were using Facebook and Instagram, yet the company took no steps to “keep them off” the platforms.
Prosecutors presented internal communications material of the company as evidence, including research documents, employee emails, and other materials sent to Meta chief executive officer Mark Zuckerberg. One such research doc, focusing on Instagram, stated that “teens have an addict's narrative about use." Still, Meta continued to target young users, prosecutors argued.
(Edited by Agniva Ray)
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