Meta A coalition of state attorneys general has settled a major federal lawsuit centered on allegations that social media giants misrepresented the extent of child-related mental health harm caused by apps like Facebook and Instagram.
The settlement was revealed in a court filing released Wednesday, detailing several requirements that Meta would impose on the app as part of a proposed “consent decree.”
These changes include daily usage limits and “night blocks” for young people using the company’s apps like Facebook and Instagram, “enhanced age protection measures” to prevent children from using the apps, and the creation of additional tools for parents and guardians.
As part of the settlement, Meta agreed to pay $16.7 billion. If the court formally approves the settlement, California could receive between $1.5 billion and $2.1 billion, according to an announcement by California Attorney General Rob Bonta. Texas was not part of the group settlement and agreed to pay a separate $1 billion.
“Today, we secured a settlement with Meta that will make social media less dangerous for children and will make a huge difference for them and their families,” Bonta said in a statement. “Meta has agreed to make major changes to reduce the risk of harm from its platform and plans to do so in the coming months.”
Several state legislatures touted the $17.1 billion settlement. This figure includes more than $459 million in claims related to the Cambridge Analytica case, which is separate from the child safety case.
The filing states that each party waived “all rights to appeal this final judgment.”
The social media giant’s shares soared during premarket trading after the news, rising nearly 2% in morning trading.
The trial is in its second week and is being held in federal court in Oakland, California. The case was co-led by Mr. Bonta and the AGs of Colorado, New Jersey, and Kentucky, who represented a bipartisan group of 29 AGs in joint litigation stemming from the 2023 lawsuit.
In Bonta’s announcement Wednesday detailing the settlement, he noted that the effort involves a “bipartisan coalition of 51 attorneys general.”
Mehta said in a statement that the settlement agreement “includes payments of approximately $18 billion,” which will be “divided in annual installments over 10 years.” This amount will fund various youth online safety initiatives determined by the state.
The total payment also includes a separate $1 billion settlement with the state of Texas.
According to the company, “participating countries” will receive approximately $12.7 billion, or 70% of the total settlement amount, over the next 10 years. These states could receive the remaining $5.3 billion, or 30%, as long as they: googleYouTube and TikTok have implemented certain changes to their apps, including daily time limits for youth, age guarantee measures, and “night mode.” Meta’s competitors must also all agree to pay the remaining 30%, with “half of the remaining funds tied to YouTube payments and half to TikTok payments.”
Mehta said it expects to incur “approximately $10 billion in legal costs in the third quarter of 2026 related to the agreement,” which had not been previously accounted for.
Instagram CEO Adam Mosseri testified Tuesday that he does not instruct employees to withhold certain information about child safety or products in order to provide cover or mislead the public.
The stakes were particularly high for Mark Zuckerberg’s social media giant because the federal trial was held in Mehta’s home state of California and involved multiple states.
In early August, a New Mexico judge ordered Mehta to pay $567 million into a sinking fund as part of a public nuisance case centered on child safety allegations. The judge’s ruling came months after a New Mexico jury ruled that Meta should pay $375 million in damages based on the number of times it violated the state’s tort law.
Other lawsuits against Mehta are still ongoing, including social media personal injury claims and a nationwide federal school district consolidation lawsuit.
“Thousands of young people and public school districts have lawsuits pending in the MDL against Meta, TikTok, Snap, and YouTube, and we stand ready to continue the fight,” attorneys representing plaintiffs in those lawsuits said in a statement Wednesday. “We will not rest until all of these plaintiffs receive justice for the harm caused by all of the defendants’ platforms.”
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