{"id":1716,"date":"2026-08-27T10:39:50","date_gmt":"2026-08-27T10:39:50","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/urbaneconomynews.com\/?p=1716"},"modified":"2026-08-27T10:39:50","modified_gmt":"2026-08-27T10:39:50","slug":"meta-agrees-to-18-billion-settlement-over-claims-facebook-instagram-harmed-children","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/urbaneconomynews.com\/?p=1716","title":{"rendered":"Meta Agrees to $18 Billion Settlement Over Claims Facebook, Instagram Harmed Children"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

Meta has agreed to pay approximately $18 billion to settle claims from states that Facebook and Instagram harmed children through addictive features and inadequate protections for young users.<\/p>\n

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The agreement, which requires court approval, follows litigation brought by 29 states accusing the social media giant of designing its platforms to keep children engaged while violating privacy and consumer protection laws.<\/p>\n

The settlement was reached one day after Instagram chief Adam Mosseri testified in a California courtroom. Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg had been expected to testify before the agreement was announced.<\/p>\n

Meta denied wrongdoing but said the settlement is part of an agreement involving 52 attorneys general nationwide.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe agreement includes a payment of approximately $18 billion, which can be used to fund youth online safety initiatives, among other state priorities,\u201d Meta said.<\/p>\n

The company will also make significant changes to how teenagers use Facebook and Instagram. Teen accounts will default to a combined two-hour daily limit, which minors will need parental permission to disable. Meta also agreed to impose nighttime restrictions.<\/p>\n

The company will strengthen age-verification measures designed to prevent children from accessing its platforms or age-restricted material. Other changes include hiding likes on teenagers\u2019 posts by default, restricting certain filters and allowing teens to turn off autoplay.<\/p>\n

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Teenagers will also be able to select a non-algorithmic feed as their default rather than relying on Meta\u2019s personalized recommendation systems.<\/p>\n

California Attorney General Rob Bonta, a Democrat who led the litigation, said the agreement would force substantial changes to Meta\u2019s platforms.<\/p>\n

\u201cMeta has agreed to make massive transformations that will reduce the risk of harm from its platforms, and will do it within months,\u201d Bonta said.<\/p>\n

Meta maintains that the states\u2019 allegations failed to adequately account for safeguards the company had already implemented, including private teen accounts, parental supervision and restrictions on who can contact minors.<\/p>\n

Meta Chief Legal Officer C.J. Mahoney said the new framework would give parents greater control over their children\u2019s social media use while calling on TikTok and YouTube to adopt similar protections.<\/p>\n

\u201cBecause teens move fluidly across dozens of apps, we need an industry-wide solution,\u201d Mahoney said.<\/p>\n

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Meta has agreed to pay approximately $18 billion to settle claims from states that Facebook and Instagram harmed children through addictive features and\u2026<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1715,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1716","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news"],"yoast_head":"\nMeta Agrees to $18 Billion Settlement Over Claims Facebook, Instagram Harmed Children - Urban Economy news<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/urbaneconomynews.com\/?p=1716\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Meta Agrees to $18 Billion Settlement Over Claims Facebook, Instagram Harmed Children - 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