Meta to Pay Up to $18bn to Settle Claims Its Platforms Harm Children

Meta has agreed an $18bn settlement with US states and territories over claims that Facebook and Instagram harmed children, the largest payment it has made over child-safety litigation.

A California judge approved the deal, which covers 48 states, the District of Columbia and three US territories. Meta said the money "will be distributed in annual instalments over a 10-year period," and denied any wrongdoing.

The conduct changes

The settlement also requires product changes the states had demanded, including default daily time limits and night-time blocks on teen accounts.

Judge Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers wrote that the agreement "reflects a fair, reasonable, comprehensive, and good faith approach not only to provide monetary relief, but importantly, to change conduct." California Attorney General Rob Bonta called it "a major moment to clean up an industry that has been hurting our kids."

Reading the structure

Two details do most of the work. The payment is spread over a decade, which softens it considerably against Meta's cash generation. And the conduct terms are the part the states fought hardest for, because a fine is absorbable and a default setting is not.

Defaults are the mechanism that matters. Time limits users must switch on are used by a small minority; time limits that arrive already enabled apply to everyone who does not turn them off. Whatever the headline figure, that is the provision most likely to change what teenagers actually experience.