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Winners & losers: Meta has agreed to pay as much as $18 billion and overhaul how minors use Instagram and Facebook, settling a lawsuit that accused the company of designing its platforms to addict children. Court filings and a Meta blog post confirmed the deal this morning. The agreement ends a trial that began August 18 in Oakland, and was expected to run through early October. It also means Mark Zuckerberg won't have to take the stand as planned. Instagram head Adam Mosseri had already testified before the settlement landed.
This case dates to 2023, when 29 states sued Meta alleging it built infinite scroll, push notifications, and recommendation algorithms specifically to maximize how long kids stayed on its apps, misled the public about the harm, and collected children's data without parental consent in violation of COPPA.
By the time of settlement, 52 attorneys general across states and territories had signed on, and the deal itself now covers 47 states, DC, and several territories. Texas, Florida, and New Mexico are notably absent. New Mexico already won $942 million from Meta at trial this year, and Texas negotiated its own separate $1 billion settlement.
