The lawsuit alleged that Meta knowingly built features meant to keep children hooked on its apps while concealing those practices from the public.
OAKLAND, Calif. — Meta has agreed to pay $17 billion and introduce new child-safety protections on Facebook and Instagram, ending a closely watched trial over teen social media addiction and resolving claims brought by 47 states, state attorneys general said Wednesday.
California, Colorado, Kentucky and New Jersey were among the 29 states that sued the technology giant in 2023. The settlement halts the case before it could reach one of its most anticipated moments: Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg testifying before a jury in federal court in California.
In Virginia, the agreement is valued at $353 million, making it one of the largest consumer protection settlements in the state’s history, Attorney General Jay Jones said in a statement.
“For years, Meta intentionally deceived the public about the addictive and harmful design features that have wreaked havoc on youth mental health,” Jones said. The settlement “will put an end to these dangerous practices and deliver meaningful relief that will protect children from online harm.”
Meta did not immediately respond to a request for comment. The $17 billion settlement represents only a portion of the company’s 2025 revenue, which totaled $201 billion.
The lawsuit accused Meta of worsening the youth mental health crisis by intentionally designing addictive features for young users and keeping those choices hidden. It also claimed the company violated federal law by routinely collecting data from children under 13 without parental consent.
The trial began last week in Oakland, California, before U.S. District Judge Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers. Instagram chief Adam Mosseri started testifying late Tuesday, defending Meta’s track record and its progress on child safety and privacy protections.
The cases in other states had been expected to go to trial later. In addition, nine attorneys general filed lawsuits in their respective states.
Under the proposed settlement, Meta agreed to adopt a series of safety features, including a “hard cap” on daily time limits and pauses for children using Instagram and Facebook.
It will eliminate push notifications during weekday school hours and bring in “robust” age assurance measures and “age-appropriate” content controls to prevent bullying and harmful material about eating disorders and self-harm.
There will be stronger and more user-friendly parental controls and limits on social comparison features such as “like” counts.
The federal lawsuit was the result of an investigation led by a bipartisan coalition of attorneys general from California, Florida, Kentucky, Massachusetts, Nebraska, New Jersey, Tennessee, and Vermont. It followed newspaper reports, first by The Wall Street Journal in 2021, that found that the company knew about the harm Instagram can cause teenagers — especially teen girls — when it comes to mental health and body image issues.
Meta has since added a host of safety features to Instagram, including separate accounts for teenagers with stronger protections around messaging and privacy, along with content restrictions.
But child safety experts, along with some former Meta employees, have long contended that the features are little more than window dressing.
Arturo Béjar, a former Meta engineering director, said during his testimony last week that Meta consistently prioritized profits over safety in designing its products, focusing on how often and for how long people used them, even if it was detrimental to their mental well-being.
“If you step away from the product, they are not going to make any money,” he said.
While the four states in the Oakland trial did not officially say how much they had been seeking, Meta said in a court filing that financial penalties in the case could amount to as much as $1.4 trillion — a figure legal experts said was unlikely, if not impossible.
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