Technology
Meta agrees to pay up to $18 billion to settle youth safety lawsuits with dozens of states
The multistate settlement halts a federal trial in California, though Meta and other tech platforms continue to face widespread litigation over youth mental health.
The short version
- Meta reached a settlement with dozens of states cut short during a federal trial in Oakland, California, resolving allegations that its platforms deliberately hooked children.
- The agreement requires Meta to pay up to $18 billion and establish new platform safety guardrails for minors.
- Florida declined the settlement, calling it insufficiently strict, while New Mexico opted out after previously winning court orders for hundreds of millions in penalties.
- Meta, YouTube, TikTok, and Snapchat still face thousands of separate lawsuits from school districts and individual families over youth mental health harms.
Key facts
- Meta agreed to pay up to $18 billion and introduce operational safety guardrails to settle youth harm lawsuits brought by dozens of states.[ABC News · Associated Press]
- The settlement halted an ongoing trial in Oakland, California, involving California, Colorado, Kentucky, and New Jersey, and resolved prospective trials for 25 additional states and a separate trial in Tennessee.[ABC News · Associated Press]
- New Mexico did not join the settlement because it previously won court judgements against Meta including a $375 million jury penalty and a judge's order to pay $567 million and institute mandatory platform restrictions.[ABC News · Associated Press]
- Florida's attorney general rejected the settlement terms, deeming them not tough enough on Meta.[ABC News · Associated Press]
- More than 1,200 school districts and thousands of individuals have filed separate cases against social media companies including Meta, TikTok, Snapchat, and YouTube.[ABC News · Associated Press]
- In a Los Angeles bellwether trial earlier in the year, a jury awarded $6 million after finding Meta and YouTube liable for youth social media addiction harms, a ruling both companies have appealed.[ABC News · Associated Press]
What remains uncertain
- The exact timeline and specific operational details for Meta's agreed safety guardrails remain unspecified in the initial announcement.[ABC News · Associated Press]
- The ultimate financial and operational impact of pending appeals, such as Meta's disagreement with New Mexico's court orders and its appeal of the Los Angeles jury verdict, remains unresolved.[ABC News · Associated Press]